


Hate Is Such a Strong Word

by beeftony



Category: Kim Possible (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-04
Updated: 2013-04-03
Packaged: 2017-12-07 10:15:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 30,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/747366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beeftony/pseuds/beeftony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Team Possible has saved the day. Or have they? Drakken pulls out a last-ditch effort to salvage his plans, and Kim finds herself radically reconsidering her worldview, among many other things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

"Do you know what I _really_ hate?"

"That your... date melted?"

"Nah. _You_."

It was that smirk, Shego thought idly as she was sent careening in the direction of Drakken's signal tower, that bothered her the most. The pain was nothing new. They'd tangled before, and she had certainly dished out enough of her own crushing blows to give the cheerleader something to think about in the morning.

It wasn't even the lame taunt she'd delivered before trying to shove a boot through her small intestine that really got under the villainess' skin. Banter was as much a part of their fighting as the actual punching and kicking and flipping, if not more so.

No, what truly aggravated her and slowed the world around her as her veins frosted over, was the fact that Shego recognized the expression on Kim's face as one of her own.

That was her last thought before the ice coursing through her became fire and her entire world burned hotter than a thousand suns.

* * *

"This isn't over! Oh, this can't be over!"

"Deal with it dude—it's over."

The door to the police van slammed shut, closing a chapter of their lives. This was the beginning of something new. Ron could feel it.

Beaming brighter than ever, he moved his gaze to the person standing next to him, the person for whom he'd do anything. And even if he couldn't have her the way he wanted tonight, at least they had gotten through this together.

It was never about jealousy, he tried to tell himself. He preferred to think that he had simply been motivated by an extreme concern for Kim's well-being, and the fact that there was just something so... _off_ about Drakken's plan and Erik's convenient arrival into their lives just in time for the prom. And sure enough, his crazy hunch that no one ever believed had proven to be right again. At least she was safe now and that jerk had washed away with the rain. Drakken had been stopped, and the world was once again a safer place thanks to the efforts of Team Possible. And that was enough to make Ron happy.

But that wasn't the whole truth. He had never openly lusted after Kim, as the two of them had known each other long enough to effectively be brother and sister, and they had each pursued their own romantic interests—her with Josh Mankey and his own brief affair with Zita—but it had taken seeing her with Erik to realize that he'd been assuming all these years that she would always wait around for him to get his act together. That she wouldn't have her own ambitions and try to move on with her life while he was standing still. As much as he wanted to insist that his motivation was as selfless as ever, he wasn't about to deny that a lot of his actions had been the result of not wanting to lose her.

And he'd finally stepped up, confessing to her that maybe the one for her had been there all along; always in the background, letting her have the spotlight she deserved. And to his great surprise, she hadn't seemed entirely opposed to the idea.

Still, it wasn't as if he could simply offer to take Erik's place now that the day had been saved and Kim was once again dateless. He respected her far too much to think of her as some sort of prize to be won, and given how stressful the night had been he wouldn't be surprised if she simply wanted to just forget the prom and go home. He certainly wanted to after all that.

But apparently Kim had other plans, because he felt himself being grabbed by the hands and pulled along in a motion that formed a perfect metaphor for what their relationship had always been about.

"Where are we going?"

She smiled impishly. "You'll see."

* * *

"So once again, we wind up in the back of a paddy wagon."

"Oh quit your whining, Shego," Drakken muttered. "I've got a plan to get us out of here."

"Which I suspect you won't be sharing, based on what just happened," she deadpanned, leaning casually against the cold steel. "By the way, great plan, getting Kimmie all fired up like that. What was that whole boyfriend thing supposed to accomplish again?"

"He was supposed to break her heart!" he shouted, angrily of course—was there any other way to shout? "She was supposed to be so completely demoralized that she wouldn't even _bother_ trying to fight back! But all that got _ruined_ thanks to _you_!"

Shego knew she should probably be offended by that, but at the moment she was merely baffled. " _Me_? What'd _I_ do?"

"You were the one in charge of tying the two of them up! You were the one who put her next to that... sidekick of hers, the one who always comes through with a heartwarming message and lifts her spirits up. And don't think I didn't plan for him! Erik was supposed to separate them so that he wouldn't be around to give her that pep talk just when she needed it most. But _somebody_ had to put them together in the moment of truth!"

"Hey, I just tied up Stoppable," she defended. "Erik was in charge of Possible, and he dragged her off into another room for about ten minutes for... something, then came back and we tied her up right next to him. Although now that I think about it, I should've kept a closer eye on that gerbil or whatever the hell that thing is that lives in his pants." Shego blanched a moment later after she realized what she'd just said. "Er... that came out wrong."

The words, as usual, soared right over Drakken's head. "Whatever. My point is, the plan would have worked perfectly if you had just _kept them_ _separate_!"

"And _you_ could've clued me in on that little detail before you just told me to tie 'em up! What the hell did you _expect_ me to do?"

"Oh right, I should have been more open with my plan. I may be prone to gloating, Shego, but even _I_ can recognize a pattern. And the fact is, every time I spill the details of my plan, it ends up _ruined_ in five minutes!"

"That's 'cause you spend the whole time ranting at the one person in the room who wants to _stop_ your plan," Shego rebutted. " _I'm_ being paid to _help_ you. I should get to know!"

"Well you were never interested _before_!"

"Okay, I'll give you that," she admitted, flashing back to all the times Drakken's ranting had interrupted her nail-filing time. "But that never stopped you! I mean, when'd you get all secretive?"

"Around the same time I realized that in order to defeat Kim Possible, I needed to stop rambling long enough to actually put my plan into effect. And it would have _worked_ , if—"

She held up a hand to stop him. "Lemme guess: I hadn't made a mistake? You know, you're always complaining about how I mess things up, but you never fire me. I wonder why that is."

Drakken looked genuinely confused for a moment. "When do I complain about that?"

"Oh, I don't know, how about when I got back from Japan and you dropped me into a room with all those syntho-goons while shouting: 'You have failed me!' like some stupid spy movie? Or if that's too long ago for you to remember, how about _just now_?"

Shrinking back considerably, the mad doctor touched his index fingers together in front of him and smiled nervously. "Okay, so you're not entirely incompetent. Actually you're pretty much the reason I don't stay in prison for very long periods of time, and there's the fact that we've grown closer together as an evil family and I think..."

" _Enough_!" Shego growled as she lit up a hand, unable to stand his rambling anymore. "By the way, when did you get perceptive enough to 'realize how to defeat Kim Possible' in a way that didn't involve gloating over your success _before_ you put your plan into motion?"

He didn't look at her, which was her first clue that he was still hiding things from her even now. "Let's just say I've been doing a fair amount of thinking, Shego. I know it seems like I never learn from my mistakes, but I can't deny any longer that..." He grimaced as he spoke the next words. "...maybe she _is_ all that. And if that's the case, then I need to step up my game."

"And here I thought you were just making shit up as you went along," she muttered.

"Shego, _language_!" Drakken admonished as he scooted a little further away from her. "You know I don't like it when you start in on the ugly words."

" _Oy_." She pressed a hand against her forehead to stave off the impending headache. "And _why_ is that, again?"

"Well it tends to be bad for morale," he explained, gesturing to the henchmen that had so far remained silent. "And let's just say that if my mother knew I was hanging around people who used language like that..."

"Oh come _on_! You just tried to take over the world with cybertronic robot toys while ruining a teenage girl's prom night, and you're worried what your _mother_ will think of me _swearing_? Get your fucking priorities straight, Dr. D!"

Drakken cringed at the—entirely intentional—precision f-strike, but said nothing.

"I mean, normally I don't even _need_ to swear, since there's usually a punching bag or some synthodrones or even _Kimmie_ to take out my frustrations against, but we're in the middle of a prison van right now and my whole body feels like I got fried by lightning—which I pretty much _did_ —so I'll fucking swear if I goddamn _feel like it_!"

"Yes, Shego, of course, Shego," Drakken wisely replied. "Feel free to let it all out. I'll be here for you."

Shego swallowed the bile that came to the back of her throat. "Ugh. Thanks, but no thanks. Now what was that you said about a plan?"

"Oh, that." He cackled evilly while rubbing his hands together, as was his wont. He tore off a loose thread on his lab coat to reveal a hidden pocket, from which he produced a small device no larger than a garage door opener and pressed a button. "Let's just say that Cinderella won't be able to stay at the Ball past midnight..."

* * *

_I know we've been friends forever / But now I think I'm feeling something totally new_

The music snapped Ron out of the dull haze he'd experienced on the way over here, clinging tightly to Kim as she guided the now rocket-powered scooter back to the gym to pick up where the prom had left off. Since her date was now a pile of syntho-goo on a rooftop, she needed a different dance partner. He was vaguely aware of the events that led up to this point, mainly Bonnie's failed attempt at ridicule and Rufus pushing the two of them together as the music started. But now the situation had his full attention, and he did his best to lose himself in it completely.

_And after all this time / I've opened up my eyes now I see / You were always with me_

Ron was used to all sorts of cosmic coincidences, but this new song related to the current situation to a degree that bordered on suspicious. It even sounded like Kim was the one singing it from what he remembered of the talent show last year, even though he had emerged victorious from that event by virtue of the sheer number of acts. But one thing that always stuck with him from that night was that Kim had such a beautiful voice. Only the fact that she was right in front of him assured him that she wasn't actually the one singing.

_Could it be, you and I never imagined_

Again with the suspiciously apropos lyrics. If he didn't know better Ron would think this was some sort of fairy-tale ending where everything was tied up in a neat little bow and everybody lived happily ever after. But he knew that simply wasn't an option, as tomorrow they would have to deal with some of the fallout from tonight, such as the fact that Kim had no front door now. But for now, he tried to enjoy the moment.

_Could it be, suddenly, I'm falling for you_

And that was when the weight of the moment crashed down on him like a thousand tons of concrete. Kim's words and actions from earlier coalesced inside his mind to form a pattern that even he could recognize, and he wanted to slap himself for not noticing it before. He had realized, of course, that his best friend hadn't rejected him outright when he expressed a desire to be something more, but being open to the idea and actually working to make it a reality were two completely different things, and he had been overtaken by too much of his own crippling self-doubt to consider that she might be willing to do the latter.

_Could it be, you were right here beside me and I never knew_

Maybe it could. Maybe they were meant for each other all along and just couldn't see it before. Maybe this was their happy ending. Maybe everything would work out just fine.

_Could it be that it's true that it's you_

Time slowed and the music dissolved to the periphery as they stopped dancing and started doing something... more. They moved closer and closer, hovering on the brink and waiting for some invisible cue to push them over the edge.

_And it's you_

That was it. Something triggered inside them and they leaned into each other, coming closer than they ever had before. Ron poured everything he had into that kiss, every memory and every feeling that had been building to this moment for a far longer time than either of them realized. When they separated a few moments later, he had an enormous smile on his face.

But Kim was frowning.

"KP?" he asked, a worried expression slowly overtaking his smile. "Is everything alright?" For a moment he feared that she would dissolve into syntho-goo the same way Erik had.

She did something worse.

"I..." she began, stepping out of his reach, "I have to go."

And then she followed through on her words, dashing out of the gym before he could even react enough to move. As he watched her disappear out the doors, his heart plummeted and he sank to the floor.

Of course it couldn't be. It never could. And now he'd gone too far, crossed the one line he never should have, and that dream was now lost to him forever.

Behind him, he felt a hand clasp over his shoulder and a smaller weight come to rest on the other. He knew they had been watching, and were likely just as confused as he was.

But that didn't make it any easier as he felt his heart shatter.

* * *

Shego felt more than heard the van come to a stop, which struck her as odd considering that, unless she'd either lost track of time or the government was dealing with some new teleportation technology, they couldn't have reached the prison this soon. She heard a smaller vehicle screech to a halt moments later, then a couple of cries as the guards up front got taken out. She turned to see Drakken grinning like a child at Christmas time.

"This part of your plan?" she quipped, and he nodded gleefully. Before she could ask for specifics, the back doors of the van opened and she saw the one face she never expected to lay eyes on again.

"Time to go," Kim announced as she stood there looking ridiculously out of place in her prom dress. The wicked smirk on her face wasn't quite as disturbing as the one she'd seen earlier, but still unsettling enough that she had to resist the urge to claw her way through the wall behind her. Instead, desperate to avoid commenting on the situation directly, she focused on what she could see behind the teenager.

"Finally ditched the scooter, huh?"

The smirk grew. "Well, I figured that since Erik _clearly_ doesn't need it anymore, his bike would probably be the fastest way to catch up to you guys. Looks like I was right."

Shego was about to ask _why_ exactly she had been thinking that, but one look at Drakken told her that whatever it was had something to do with his nebulous plan, which was becoming clearer by the minute. She felt a smirk of her own creeping over her face at the implications.

She would be discussing this with Drakken later, and there would definitely be _words_ when it happened, but for now she just decided to go with it. It wasn't like she had any better ideas for escaping.

"There room for two on that bike?"

Kim nodded.

"Good, 'cause you get to ride with Dr. D," she declared.

The redhead shrugged. "Sounds fair. We should really get going before the rest of the convoy arrives."

"Couldn't agree more, Princess," she replied before grumbling: "Much as it pains me to say that."

"Wait, what?" Drakken suddenly sputtered, apparently being the only one who objected to the arrangement. "Why aren't _you_ riding with her?"

Shego held up a finger. "Because A, regardless of whatever brought about her new change in attitude, I'm still pissed at her for kicking me into a signal tower." She raised a second finger. "And B, because when something _does_ inevitably go wrong with whatever you're using to control her, I don't wanna risk being the one falling off a motorcycle when it happens. So you get the honors."

Drakken looked a lot less confident with this idea than he had a few moments ago, but nodded nonetheless. "So that means you'll be driving behind us?"

"Someone's gotta lug the rest of these meatheads to the lair," she decided with a shrug. "And we haven't trusted _them_ with driving ever since the crop circle incident."

"Crop circles?" asked Kim.

"Ten trucks driving around in a field for hours on end is bound to leave a few flattened cornstalks, Kimmie," she explained. "That would be why _I'm_ going to be following the two of you until we can get to some proper transportation."

"Sounds like a good idea to me. Now let's get going."

Shego grinned. "After you, Princess."


	2. Let's Get You Out of That Dress

"Well, what do you think?"

After a few moments of quiet staring, most of which was spent casting despairing glances at each other, Kim answered the question.

"I think it's the same lair you brought my dad to when you used the brain tap machine on him," she remarked, though to be fair they had both figured that out hours ago given that Shego had to be given directions to fly there.

It had taken the entire night plus most of the early hours of the morning to reach the frozen peak that housed Drakken's most expensive lair to date, aside from Bueno Nacho headquarters, which didn't really count since it was already there. After ditching the prison van and, regrettably, the red and black motorcycle that Kim had commandeered, they managed to recover one of Shego's jets. It wasn't the same one she'd used in Tokyo—it had to fit Kim and Drakken as well as all the henchmen, after all—but it got them here in just a couple of hours, way too quickly for any authorities to follow. For the moment, they were free and clear.

"I know, isn't it brilliant?" he replied with an unnecessarily grand flourish, spinning in place and raising his arms as though milking a giant invisible cow. "It's the last place anybody would expect us to go!" His mood sobered for a moment as he made his next remark. "Also it's the only lair of mine you didn't actually blow up."

"Kinda distracted by the whole 'getting my dad out of there safely' thing," she pointed out.

"Still looks like crap, though," Shego remarked, glancing around at the festering piles of syntho-goo.

Drakken soured considerably. "Alright, so it could use a fixer-upper!" He looked to the side and muttered, "Where's Hank with a mop when you need him?"

"Hank?" queried Kim.

"Janitor," the green woman whispered.

"Kinda gathered that from the whole 'mop' thing."

"Whatever. All I know is, I'm not cleanin' that up."

"Neither am I."

Drakken ignored their conspiratorial whispering and began marching forward, while Shego motioned to the henchmen to begin the cleaning process. As they carefully stepped over the puddles that were somehow both gooey _and_ slippery, Drakken continued ranting.

"Now, the first order of business is to get this lair back into fighting shape. That means we need to start recruiting some engineers and more henchmen, as well as producing more synthodrones. I want to be ready for whoever tries to bring us back in."

"Don't think you'll have to worry much on that front," Shego muttered, glancing at Kim.

"Yes, well, her presence certainly puts us at an advantage, but we still have the sidekick to consider, not to mention that computer hacker who always seems to disable my security systems whenever she comes knocking," he replied without even breaking stride. "And then there's _Global Justice_."

Kim shifted closer to Shego and whispered: "Is he always like this before I show up?"

She shook her head. "Nah, he's usually the same idiot all the time. Dunno why he's actually thinking sensibly for once."

"After that, of course, we'll start over from the drawing board," he continued obliviously. "I'm thinking a weather machine will do nicely this time, don't you, Shego?"

"Didn't Stoppable already do that _better_ than you?" she pointed out, causing the blue doctor to grit his teeth.

"Okay fine, no weather machines. Maybe if I swing by the time-share lair and grab all that mind-control shampoo..."

"You still _have_ that?" Kim asked, sounding somewhat disturbed at the thought.

"Well it's not like it was flying off the shelves!" he snapped. "I just need to wait for the market to be more receptive to new products before I consider launching it again!"

"Whatever, just as long as you don't _rap_ this time," Shego deadpanned.

The mad scientist seemed to wilt somehow. "Why must you continue to belittle my musical talents, Shego?"

"Because that's yet _another_ area where the buffoon was able to beat you?"

"Fine, maybe I'll just build another giant death ray," Drakken grumbled petulantly.

"Whatever you say, Doc," Shego replied, bored. "I assume I'll be showing Kimmie here to her accommodations?"

He nodded. "See that you do. And please, find her something more _sensible_ to wear than that piece of glitter."

"Hey! Do you _know_ how much _babysitting_ I had to do to _pay_ for this?"

"He just doesn't like it when someone rocks the blue look better than him," Shego postulated. "Anyway, we'd better get going. _Later_ , Dr. D."

Drakken finally turned to face them, if only to watch them leave. "Same to you, Shego," he replied with an air of finality that seemed completely at odds with the rough tumble he took to the floor a moment later when he slipped in a pile of syntho-goo.

" _OW_! Shego! Kimberly? Isn't anybody going to _help_?" But they were already gone.

"HAAAAANK!"

* * *

The sunlight traipsed lazily into the room, spreading its radiance across crumpled sheets and unfolded clothing that never seemed to end up where it belonged. The rays illuminated a blue tuxedo that hadn't been removed the night before, aside from tearing apart the bow tie so that it hung in two separate pieces. Moving steadily further into the room, the warm light was prevented from reaching his eyes by an arm that had been placed over his face and remained there for the entire night. Ron didn't actually wake up until the alarm he didn't remember setting began screeching at him.

In contrast to his usual routine of leaping from the bed in a half-mad state worrying about how late he was after the alarm had been wailing for thirty minutes, the teen simply dropped a fist down like a hammer and silenced the machine. There was no school today.

He was about to force himself back into darkness when another shrill ring began sounding from his nightstand. Knowing he couldn't smash it and still escape the wrath of the parents who had paid for it, Ron grumbled and reached for his phone, which was held out to him by a helpful set of tiny paws.

"Thanks Rufus," he muttered before flipping it open and putting his ear to the receiver. "Hello?"

"So did you sleep okay?"

Rubbing his eyes as he sat up, Ron scowled for the sake of appearing upset. "I was until you called."

"Don't get smart with me, Stoppable," the voice on the other end snapped. "I _told_ you I'd be callin' you this morning to see if you were alright."

"I'm _fine_ , Monique," he insisted.

"Which we both know is code for 'I don't wanna talk about it.'"

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, you got me. I'd really rather deal with this on my own."

"Yeah, well tough. I know what you're goin' through right now, Ron, and it's my duty as your friend to help you through it."

Ron was tempted to point out that she really _didn't_ know what he was going through, but decided against it. Instead he replied: "I can still hang up on you."

"Not if you know what's good for you, white boy."

Despite his sour mood and sudden willingness to be confrontational, Ron had known Monique long enough to back down whenever she made a threat like that. He gulped. "Fine, so what'd you wanna talk about?"

"Well, let's start at the beginning. When did you start having feelings for Kim?"

Ron had a response prepared, but it never got past his throat as those words caught him completely by surprise. "Say what now?"

"You practically had a nervous breakdown when she ran out on you last night. And then there's what you two were doin' right before that."

"You mean the kissing?"

" _Mm_ hmm."

"Okay, well..." He stood up and started to pace around the room while Rufus hopped on his shoulder. "I guess it started a long time ago, but I didn't really pay attention to it until just recently. I wanted to believe we were just two friends who'd known each other since Pre-K, but that changed when I saw her with Erik."

"And why is that?"

"Er..." he stalled, scratching the back of his scalp. "I guess I always figured she'd just wait for me to catch up like she always does. I mean, part of the reason I didn't go after her before is because... well..."

"You didn't think a guy like you deserved her."

Right to the point. Ron smiled nervously. "Kinda?"

"And when a guy came along who knew what he was after and wasn't afraid to pursue it, you got jealous."

It didn't sound so noble when she put it like that. "A little bit?"

"And then you confessed that to Kim, and she jumped into your willing arms?" He could feel the sarcasm oozing into his ear from the way her words dripped with it.

"It didn't happen like _that_!" he protested loudly. "For one thing, we were tied up at the time! I just told her that... well, maybe she didn't have to keep looking for someone. Maybe someone was right beside her all along."

"And that someone just _happened_ to be you?"

"Quit making it sound stupid!" he demanded, tossing his arm aside in a violent gesture that had Rufus hanging on for dear life. "I didn't tell her that, she figured it out on her own! It was her idea to take me back to the prom and she didn't seem to mind the kiss!"

"So then why did she run out all of a sudden?"

"I don't know!"

There was a long moment of silence before Monique continued. "Look, I don't get it either. But my question is: why didn't you try running after her?"

The unexpected question caused Ron to freeze, while Rufus looked on sympathetically. "Huh?"

"Well, if you finally stepped up and decided to pursue her romantically, why didn't you chase after her when she left? Why did you just collapse on the floor like that?"

"I... I don't know," he admitted soberly.

"Could it be that you still don't think you deserve her?"

Ron collapsed back onto his bed, while Rufus leapt quickly to a spot that was not in the projected zone of impact to avoid being crushed, then made his way back over to his master's shoulder. "Maybe," he muttered as he focused on the ceiling.

He heard a sigh on the other end. "Ron, you've gotta get over this inferiority complex of yours if you ever wanna have a chance with Kim. Girls don't find it romantic when you expect them to wait around for you to make up your mind and then suddenly get up the courage at the last minute. If you really want Kim, you have to learn how to take the initiative."

"I don't have an inferiority complex!" he shouted, sitting up rapidly and nearly hurling Rufus across the room. "Kim's just... better than me, is all."

"Uh-huh."

"Look, I'll go over to her house later today and try to talk things over, will that make you happy?"

He could imagine her waving a finger back and forth as she replied: "Nuh-uh, don't _make_ this about _me_. If you wanna talk to her about this, then do it because you actually want to work things out."

Ron frowned. "I'll try."

"You'll have to do better than that, Ron. Good luck."

"Bye," he told her right before hanging up. He glanced down at Rufus. "Well, buddy, I guess this is it. I've gotta talk to Kim about how I really feel."

"Uh-hunh, uh-hunh," the naked mole rat replied supportively.

He stood up. "I mean, maybe the kiss only freaked her out because she thought I was talking about someone else! Maybe I just needed to be clearer!" The revelation lasted only a moment before little doubts started creeping in.

"But then why was she dancing with me?" he wondered, putting a finger to his chin. "And she didn't really seem to mind the kiss until it was over... I dunno, Rufus; I think maybe she was just scared." A frown crept over his features and he started to really think about what had happened.

"Wait a minute, since when has Kim ever run away from anything she's scared of? I mean, okay, she's _insanely_ nervous when it comes to dating and she couldn't even _talk_ to Josh Mankey without blushing for a while, but I thought we were different than that! We've been comfortable around each other for years, why would she get so nervous all of a sudden? It doesn't make any _sense_!" He clutched the sides of his head and fell back down on the bed, and once more Rufus had to scramble out of the way.

He sat up a moment afterward. "I guess I'll find out later today, Rufus."

"Yeah. Uh-hunh."

Ron looked down somewhat skeptically at his attire, which he had been too depressed to remove last night.

"But first I need to change out of this tux."

* * *

' _Why haven't I put her through a wall yet_?" Shego demanded of herself as she led Kim through the hallway leading to the lair's living quarters. Led her. Not hauling her over her shoulder unconscious, not dragging her by a long chain; just showing her to her room. It wasn't a situation Shego could say she had anticipated the night before.

And why should she have? Even though the signal tower hadn't even come close to killing her, the fact that Kimmie had _tried_ to do serious damage made an impression on her. Shego had survived being hurled into enough things to know it took a lot more than that to take her down, or even damage her. The electricity hadn't been a problem either, since her power had apparently allowed her to channel the energy and ejected it harmlessly; all without her input, even. But it still hurt like hell.

She supposed the reason she hadn't met Kim's violence with more of the same was because the teenager was currently under Drakken's spell. She tried not to put too much thought into the mad scientist's kooky plans, but if this was mind control, then it was unlike any Shego had ever seen before. Kim didn't speak in a blank monotone or stare off into space like she would have with one of those chips that they had both been subjected to a couple of years earlier. She retained almost all of her previous personality traits—minus, thankfully, the annoying perky do-gooder attitude that constantly threatened to drive Shego up a tree.

' _It's almost like she just changed her mind_ ,' she reflected as they took a left and started up a staircase.

It wasn't like Kim wouldn't have deserved every minute of the thrashing Shego could surely unleash on her now that she had her with her guard down, and without the aid of that pesky suit too. Attacking her in the heat of the moment was one thing. That she could understand, and even identify with. But the teenager had tracked her down after the day had already been saved and planted a boot in her gut out of pure coldhearted malice. It was vengeance, pure and simple, and Shego would have suspected that Kim had started down the dark path even if Drakken hadn't somehow taken control of her mind.

But if Shego were truly honest with herself, the assault hadn't been entirely unprovoked. They'd both crossed a line the previous night, and it hadn't really been necessary to make that comment about stealing her date after she did away with the heroine. If anything, her opportunity to seek retribution under the guise of momentary anger had long since passed, and if she were to lay into the girl now, she would be no better.

' _Wouldn't that just make us even, though_?' she mused as they turned down another long hallway. ' _And besides, I'm evil. I can get away with that kind of thing_.'

Whatever the reason, no violence transpired on the way to Kim's new quarters. If nothing else, Shego just wanted to see how long this preposterous arrangement could actually last.

"Well, here we are," she announced as they arrived in front of a sliding metal door with a lightning-shaped crease separating the two halves. The door opened with a mild hiss, and the two of them stepped inside the spartan chamber. "As you can imagine, we don't get too many guests here and the henchmen have their own separate wing. But there's a bed, a couch and a TV if you wanna catch up on _Agony County_ or something."

Kim rolled her eyes and scoffed in obvious contempt. "As _if_. They totally jumped the shark when they brought Britina on as a guest star. What is it with singers trying to make it as actors now?"

"Dunno, don't really care," the green woman deadpanned. "We get the Knowing Channel too if that's more your thing. But Drakken made a point of blocking the children's network after the Mr. Sitdown incident." Even though it had been at least a few months since they had been sucked into cable television by whatever that soup can was called, Shego still couldn't help shuddering at the memory.

"That reminds me: how'd you guys end up getting out of there anyway?"

"Turns out dimensional portals have a time limit," she answered with a shrug. "We just ported back to the real world after a few hours. Thanks for following up on that, by the way."

"Um, sorry? It wasn't like we could go back." Kim smiled nervously, and Shego suspected the girl was such a do-gooder that she would have reacted this way even before having her alignment flipped. "Besides, Wade's the one who rerouted you."

"Remind me to crush that little nerdlinger with my bare hands next time I see him," Shego replied coldly. "Whatever, enough chit-chat. Let's get you outta that dress."

Kim blinked.

It took a total of five seconds before the full meaning of Shego's words caught up to her and she slapped herself on the forehead. "Ack! I did _not_ mean that the way it sounded!"

"Then what _did_ you mean?" the teenager replied smugly, crossing her arms and leaning slightly to the side.

"I meant there's some spare clothes in the closet," she answered, recovering about as gracefully as a woman trying to pass off a stumble as a brief jog. "It's mostly my stuff, but aside from me being a little taller than you we're about the same size and you wore my outfit that one time anyway."

Kim nodded. "Wow. Um, thank you. I guess."

"Yeah," she replied awkwardly. "Don't mention it."

"No, really, I—"

"Did you not just hear me say never to mention it?" Shego practically bellowed. "Only reason I'm even _doing_ this is because Drakken ordered me to find you something else to run around in. So cut the gratitude or I'll find you one of those jumpsuits he makes the rest of the henchmen wear."

"Fine," the redhead grumbled bitterly after a few moments. "Not really looking forward to wearing your clothes anyway."

"Lie all you want to if it makes ya feel better, Princess."

"Whatever," she muttered before stalking off towards the closet. "But if you think I'm wearing a catsuit again, you've got another thing coming."

* * *

It took Ron longer than usual to reach Kim's house, if only because his scooter had been over-clocked to the point where it was in no condition to go anywhere. While last night's escapades had certainly called for the emergency modifications that Kim's family had made, it did have the unfortunate side-effect of completely burning out the tires, as well as the drive-train. It turned out that a two hundred dollar scooter acquired at a flea market for a tenth of that price had not been intended as a high-performance vehicle. Ron had barely been able to wheel it back home after the prom last night, which had not helped his crushed spirit at all.

So Ron walked. To his slight embarrassment, he progressed at roughly the same rate on foot as he did using the scooter. Looking back, it was clear that his infatuation with the fantasy of losing himself on the road with his machine had blinded him to the fact that the road was only empty because everybody else had already passed him by. Story of his life.

"Nice purse, Stoppable!" shouted a random jock from the back window of a passing car. Before he could explain that the bag was in fact Kim's and that he was returning it to her after she left the prom last night, the sedan had vanished over the hill.

He grumbled.

The extra walking time actually proved to be a blessing, since it gave Ron plenty of time to consider what he was going to say to Kim. Should he open with an apology? Would she accept it? Did he want to risk sounding like he regretted the kiss? Ron played the conversation out over and over in his mind, until he was sure he at least had a plan.

"I dunno, Rufus," he said after a few minutes of ironing out the details. "Do you think Kim even wants to see me right now?"

The rodent shrugged "I'unno."

"I mean, she seemed really upset last night." A sudden wave of panic hit him and he stopped. "Oh man, do you think this could ruin our friendship? I knew this might happen!"

He shook his head and continued walking. "No, no, I'm getting ahead of myself. I've gotta at least try and work it out first. Just like Monique said, I gotta take the initiative."

"Who the hell are you _talking_ to, froob?"

Rufus turned around to glare at the new arrival, while Ron merely sighed. "I'm talking to Rufus, what's it look like?"

"Oh, right. I keep forgetting you keep _vermin_ in your pocket."

He scowled. "What do you want, Bonnie?"

"Me? Oh, that's simple. I just wanted to see how you're doing after last night," the brunette answered with mock sympathy. She smirked and sped up her pace so that she was walking slightly in front of him, facing herself in his direction while still maintaining enough of an awareness of the path in front of her that she was able to sidestep a tree.

"Doing just fine, thanks."

"Really? I could have sworn I saw you crying on the floor last night."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Don't you normally gloat in front of Kim?"

"Yes, well, nobody's seen her since last night. And since you're out here on this lovely Saturday, I figured you might do as a substitute."

He bristled slightly at that, but the truth was that Bonnie really didn't bother him as much as she did Kim. Sure, he admitted to taking a sort of twisted satisfaction seeing her embarrassed last night, but given his own humiliation he could hardly see the joy in it anymore. Besides, Bonnie was Kim's rival, not his.

"Well, I'm actually on my way over to her place right now. But I'm pretty sure she'd appreciate it if you left both of us alone."

" _Look_ , Doofus," Bonnie snarled, nearly stabbing him with an outstretched finger. "You made me look like a total idiot last night. I'm not going to let that go unpunished."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember doing anything. You're the one who started laughing at us without checking to see if the rest of the school was on board. And besides, it's not like I don't know what that feels like."

The brunette grumbled and said nothing for several moments. "Fine, whatever. Maybe I'm just not as used to it as you are. I'm still mad at you." Her demeanor shifted suddenly and she snickered. "Although, I suppose it's not like I was the only one who got embarrassed last night. What happened? Did she get one whiff of your burrito breath and decide it wasn't worth it?"

"I don't wanna talk about it," he muttered, glaring at the sidewalk ahead of them.

"Of course you don't. It's not like you ever had a chance with her anyway."

"I _SAID_ , I DON'T WANNA _TALK ABOUT IT_!" Ron suddenly bellowed, surprising even himself. Bonnie looked startled beyond belief.

"Did you just... glow?" she asked quietly.

"Uh..." Ron was still trying to figure out what exactly about that statement had triggered such a response in him. "No?"

"You were _totally_ glowing!" she insisted, pointing a finger at him. "Why were you glowing? People don't just randomly glow!"

"Aw man," he lamented when he realized what had happened. He slid a hand slowly down his face. "That's something I _really_ can't talk about."

"I... I'll see you later... Ron," she stammered out before running quickly in the opposite direction.

He sighed and continued walking. He hadn't intended for that to happen. He knew the Mystical Monkey Power tended to come and go in life-threatening situations, but that was the first time he had summoned it simply by getting angry. He was lucky that it hadn't completely taken control of him like the other times it activated. That might have ended badly.

As Kim would put it, Bonnie was only "high school evil." She didn't deserve the same response their villains got.

"Where's Bonnie runnin' off to in such a hurry?" asked Monique as she appeared beside him. They were reaching the top of the hill and he could see Kim's house about a block away.

"I... don't wanna talk about it," he answered, taking care not to shout it at her as well.

She raised an eyebrow at him but dropped it all the same.

"Why are you here, anyway?"

"I wanted to make sure you were _actually_ goin' down to Kim's place," she answered. "Not to mention I've been meanin' to give that girl a few words of my own, since she hasn't answered any of my calls."

"Oh." He wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"Besides," she continued, her mood lightening. "I figured you could use some moral support."

He nodded. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

They continued walking in silence until they reached Kim's house. Normally Ron would just come in through the kitchen without announcing himself, but given that he still wasn't sure whether Kim wanted to see him he decided to do things properly and rang the front doorbell.

The Drs. Possible answered the door a moment later. "Hello, Ronald," Mr. Dr. Possible greeted. "And Monique."

"Uh, good morning," he said awkwardly. "Is Kim here?"

"No, as a matter of fact," Mrs. Dr. Possible replied. "We thought she was with you."

Ron blinked, then the two doctors turned their attention to Monique.

"Hey, don't look at me. I was comin' over here to try an' find her too."

"Wait a minute," said Ron. "Kim disappeared after the prom last night, and she didn't come home or call anybody. That means..."

He slapped both cheeks with his hands simultaneously and let his face be taken over by an expression of absolute horror. "Kim's been kidnapped!"

* * *

"We need to talk, Dr. D."

"GYAAAH!" Drakken leapt at least a foot into the air from the shock of Shego seemingly materializing behind him. "What have I told you about sneaking up on me, Shego?"

"To do it every day and twice on Sunday?" Truth be told, she hadn't even been trying. He just wasn't very observant.

"No, I said not to do it at all!" he bellowed.

Shego rolled her eyes. "You know, if it wasn't so much fun messing with you like this, I _might_ actually tell you what sarcasm means."

Muttering something comprehensible only to him, Drakken turned around and continued fussing over the blueprints he'd been working on when she had interrupted. "What do you want, Shego?"

"I want you to tell me what you did to Kimmie."

He turned around again and raised an eyebrow. "You mean you haven't figured it out?"

"I've figured out _some_ of it," she admitted. "It has to be some new form of mind control, otherwise she wouldn't be trying my clothes on right now. But it's not like that time you put a chip on her head."

"So? What's your point?"

"It's freaking _weird_ is my point! She acts exactly the same as she did before, just... loyal to you now. And she doesn't even seem that evil! It's like she just..."

"Changed her mind?" Drakken finished for her.

"Yes! Exactly! And it's _freaking me out_!"

The mad doctor chuckled wickedly.

"What are you so giddy about?"

"Oh, just finding a little humor in the fact that you still can't decipher my plans."

"Hey, I was never that good at following them even when you were dictating a thesis at me," she reminded him. "Not that I particularly _cared_ about whatever it was you were spouting, but the point is I never thought I'd have to _try_ and follow your insane logic."

He cackled again. "But now you're saying that you _want_ to know my plan?"

"Enough of it to know what to think of the fact that you somehow got our arch-nemesis on board with us, at least."

Drakken had now produced a grin that refused to leave his face no matter how much Shego wished that he would for once quit acting smug. "Well then, Shego, I suppose I'll have to start at the beginning."

Shego plodded over to the couch that lay in the center of the room and collapsed upon it. No sense being physically uncomfortable while she had to listen to this.

"Do you remember our misadventure with the Attitudinator?" he began, pacing back and forth with his hands behind him.

"I seem to recall bringing up Stoppable's weather machine this morning."

"Yes, well, after that incident, I got to thinking."

"A dangerous pastime," she remarked.

He ignored her. "I did some research of my own into the device, and I realized that it wasn't good and evil _energy_ the machine manipulated. That was just a fancy lightshow to convince the user that the machine was working. What it was _really_ doing was reading the intentions of its wearer and removing the good ones while leaving the bad. The energy was merely a conduit, since the alternative would have been about a thousand wires hooked up directly to the brain."

"So then how did you and Stoppable end up swapping energy?"

"That's just the thing, Shego," he replied, holding up a finger. "We didn't. The machine separated my good intentions from my evil ones, and the buffoon's interruption made it so that instead of simply getting rid of my good intentions before putting only the evil ones back in my body, I ended up with only the good intentions while he received the evil ones. It was _my_ energy all along."

"Okay," she replied, sitting up and scratching her head. "I think I got all that. How'd he end up with your skin color, though?"

Drakken shrugged. "I didn't say I had it all figured out. But the point is that I figured out a way to reverse engineer the energy used by the Attitudinator and put it in a device small enough to be implanted in a person's body. Not only that, but I discovered a little bit more about how the intentions work."

Shego raised an eyebrow.

"Hench's scientists built the machine under the assumption that the energy could only work with a person's own intentions and couldn't be transferred to others. Well, the fact that the sidekick was able to take on my intentions and start building doomsday devices disproved that notion quite handily. After that, it was simply a matter of figuring out how to create artificial intentions and make them compatible with the energy. Once that was done, all I had to do was hit a switch and boom! Whoever had such a device implanted in them would be completely loyal to _me_!" He smiled giddily and raised his hands in the air as if in anticipation of a great applause.

"That's where Erik took her off to," she realized. "He was putting one of those devices in her."

"Er... yes, that's exactly what happened," Drakken muttered quickly.

"Whatever," she muttered, trying to convince herself that she didn't care. "When did you get the time to learn all that, anyway? Last I checked, Kimmie and her nerd friends had the Attitudinator, not us."

"Fortunately, HenchCo had backup plans and was able to launch the Attitudinator despite what happened to the convention model. I bought a copy and studied it myself."

"Huh," she replied, deciding that made sense. A little _too_ much sense for the Drakken she knew, but she would ponder that later. "That still doesn't tell me why you put that much effort into researching a way to turn Kim Possible on your side and then just went with the Lil' Diablos. Why the hell didn't you just lead with _that_?"

"Well, I needed to capture her first in order to implant her with the device, which required Erik's assistance anyway, and I wasn't completely certain it would work. I honestly never thought of it as anything more than a back-up plan."

"Makes sense, considering how well mind-control worked out for you _last_ time," she practically snarled.

Drakken raised an eyebrow. "It almost sounds like you have a problem with this, Shego."

That thought gave rise to the inner doubt that had been quietly plaguing her, but something vengeful inside her forced it down. Regardless of how Kim was acting now, what she had told Drakken last night was still true. Kimmie had crossed a serious line by kicking her into that signal tower, and Shego had been aching for revenge. She realized suddenly that the reason she hadn't raised her hand against Kim was that it had already been achieved.

"No," she muttered darkly, eyes closed. "I think it's exactly what she deserves."

* * *

Ron sat next to Monique on the sofa of Kim's living room, keeping his eyes on the television. As much as he had become addicted to cable right before the incident with the Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer had transported them into the world of TV, Ron really didn't watch the tube that often anymore. He had more important things to do, like missions and hanging out at Bueno Nacho.

At least, he did until today.

"This is Summer Gale, reporting live from the Lowerton countryside on the shoulder of the local highway. Police have found two of their own, left battered and bruised on the side of the road," the reporter on the television announced. "They were driving a prison van transporting international supervillains Dr. Drakken and Shego, along with a few henchmen, to prison after last night's Lil' Diablo incident."

The two of them watched as Summer strode over to the ambulance, where one of the officers was having his left arm wrapped in bandages. "Officer Rice, can you explain to our viewers what happened?"

Officer Rice looked obviously displeased with the reporter's somewhat cavalier attitude, but answered nonetheless. "Well, me an' Officer Brady over there were drivin' along the road when all of a sudden this motorcycle pulls up alongside us and motions for us to pull over. I was about to tell 'em to get lost, but then I saw who was on the bike."

"And who was that, Officer?"

He looked straight at the camera and replied: "Kim Possible."

"The teen heroine who prevented Dr. Drakken from taking over the world last night?"

He nodded.

"What did she want?"

"To beat the crap outta me an' my partner, apparently," he groused.

Summer looked stunned, but nowhere near as much as Ron and Monique, as well as the rest of the Possibles, who occupied the rest of the couch. "You're sure about this?"

"Sure as the bruises on my cheeks, reporter. I stayed conscious just long enough t'see her drive off on the motorbike with Drakken on the back, while that green lady took over drivin' the prison van. I think she was workin' with 'em."

"This is..." She hesitated and put a hand to her temple. "This is very distressing news. You're completely certain?"

"Hey, if ya don't believe me, you can ask my partner over there," he replied, gesturing to Officer Brady. "But I'm tellin ya, Kim Possible beat the shit outta me an' hightailed it outta there with those two nut jobs."

"Aaannd let's get back to you in the studio, Jack," Summer said quickly after realizing that the last comment had not been censored given the nature of the live broadcast. "This has been Summer Gale, reporting to you live from Lowerton."

"Thank you, Summer," replied Jack Hammer, the head anchor. "This is very distressing indeed. Has Kim Possible turned to villainy? Find out after the break."

The news broadcast gave way to a Bueno Nacho commercial advertising Lil' Diablos that still hadn't been pulled off the air despite last night's events. With all the recovery going on around the globe it was probably treated as a low priority; or maybe just an afterthought. The ad promised a fun surprise in every meal. It wasn't so surprising now.

"That... that can't be true," insisted Ron, staring wide-eyed. "That's..."

"Impossible?" Monique finished helpfully.

"Anything's possible for a Possible," Jim reminded them.

"Uh, not to dish on the family motto or anything, but I think Kim turning evil is a pretty _low_ possibility."

"She could be mind controlled," suggested Tim.

"Or a clone," continued Jim.

"Or maybe she just changed her mind," they said in chorus.

"Boys! There will be no speculating on your sister's decision to turn evil!" Mr. Dr. Possible reprimanded. "That is, assuming it _was_ her decision."

"But you're speculating right now!" Tim complained.

"Look," interjected Ron. "All I'm saying is that he's gotta be lying. It's not like there's any evidence."

"That's true," Anne agreed. "All we have is one eyewitness account, from someone whose memory could be called into question considering he was knocked unconscious."

"I wouldn't put it past Drakken to try and pin this on her," Ron said darkly. "There was one time he posed as Wade and tried to get Kim and me to rob other villains for him."

"When was that?" asked Monique.

"Talent show."

"Ah."

The commercials ended and the broadcast returned. "Hello, Middleton, I'm Jack Hammer. If you're just joining us, we've received an eyewitness report that suggests Kim Possible is in league with her own archenemy, Dr. Drakken. Now we believe that we might have stumbled on some evidence. For more I'm joined by Summer Gale. Summer?"

"Thank you, Jack," Summer replied. "I'm standing in an abandoned warehouse by the Lowerton docks, which appears to have been retrofitted into a hangar. Witnesses report seeing a large aircraft take off from here early this morning. If you look behind me you'll notice the stolen prison van, as well as the motorcycle allegedly used by Kim Possible in the jailbreak."

"Wait, Summer, how did you get there so fast?" queried Jack.

"I'm glad you asked, Jack. It's all thanks to this telephone transporter, which just went out on the market earlier this year." She held the device up for the camera. "Apparently it was recovered supervillain technology invented by Professor Dementor."

"Hey, that's what Drakken tried to make us steal!" Ron informed them. "Who woulda thought he'd actually market that thing?"

"That's very fascinating, Summer. Now tell us, is there any more evidence that Kim Possible was the one responsible for Drakken and Shego's escape?"

"I'm afraid so, Jack," she replied soberly. The screen switched to a grainy video apparently taken from the camera onboard the prison van. "As you can see here, the driver of this van is pulling over. A short while later..." The screen shifted abruptly, and the van appeared to be moving again. This time, it was following a motorcycle. "...we can clearly see Dr. Drakken on the back of this motorcycle." A few seconds passed before the motorcycle came up on a curve and had to turn sharply. The video froze, and so did everybody else.

"It can't be her," insisted Ron. "It just can't."

"This is clearly Kim Possible," Summer continued, as if she were disagreeing with him personally. A yellow circle surrounded the motorcycle and the video zoomed to show a grainy but still identifiable image of Kim. "She appears to be leading the van. The footage continues for several hours but I'm sure you know how this ends. They eventually made their way here and took off in the jet. That's where the trail ends, unfortunately."

"Thank you, Summer," said Jack, a little too excitedly. Ron figured that the thought of how this would affect ratings had just entered the anchor's mind. "We'll have more on this story as it develops. Hammer out."

Before any of them could say a word, they heard a familiar beep from the bag Ron had brought with him. Scrambling over to it, he fished out the Kimmunicator and stared desperately at the African-American boy on the other side.

"Wade! Good news or bad?"

"A little bit of both," the computer genius answered carefully. "I finally got in contact with Global Justice. Apparently they got spread a little thin last night so they weren't able to help you and Kim. Not to mention their Midwest headquarters got spiked around the same time Drakken's signal went online."

"Wait, why would he attack only one GJ base? I thought there were hundreds."

"Probably because it was the closest one," he theorized. "In any case, they're back online and they're helping police investigate the Bueno Nacho building."

"Oh. Well, that's good news, I guess. What's the bad?"

"Well, this is actually a mixture of both," Wade answered. "I'm not sure what to think of it, considering what we just saw."

Now Ron was curious. "What? What is it?"

"They found Kim."


	3. Aw Man!

"I'm telling you, I should be allowed to go in there!" Ron insisted to the burly agent in front of him. "Don't you recognize me? Ron Stoppable? Helps save the world from time to time? I was just here last night!"

The agent shook his head. "Sorry, not ringing any bells."

"You know, you think you'd get used to nobody remembering your name, but the sting never really goes away," Ron muttered, more to himself than anybody else. He dug something out of his pocket "Are you sure my friend Mr. Lincoln can't change your mind?"

The larger man laughed. "You're actually trying to bribe me with five bucks? Are you serious?"

"Uh... maybe? Wouldn't be the first time it's worked."

"Kid, I don't even remember people's names for less than a hundred," he sneered.

"Good to know your integrity is as unquestionable as ever, Agent Frederickson," a voice deadpanned from behind him. Frederickson gasped and stood ramrod straight, not daring to turn around.

"Apologies, Commander Du!"

"Let Mister Stoppable through," Will Du ordered, and the large man stepped aside.

"Uh, yes Sir."

"I'll be sending someone along to relieve you momentarily. You're on three day's suspension for Intention to Accept Bribery."

"But I wasn't even gonna take his money!" Frederickson protested.

"Insubordination now. You want to keep adding to the list?"

He hung his head. "No, Sir."

"Good. Go home and think about what you've done." He turned to Ron. "This way, Mister Stoppable."

Ron shrugged and started following. "That was kinda harsh, don't you think?"

"Not at all," Will responded curtly. "I could have discharged him on the spot."

"Yeah, but even Mr. Barkin wouldn't get _me_ in trouble for _that_ , and he's been known to dig up some pretty flimsy excuses," he countered as they weaved through the crowd of agents mixed in with regular police who were still conducting their own investigation. "Couldn't you have gone a little easier on him?"

"You'll find once you graduate to the big leagues that we take everything with the utmost seriousness," the no-nonsense agent replied. "Even expressing a willingness to take bribes is reason to suspect someone of being a security leak. I would have had him detained if I didn't know that all Agent Frederickson needs is a few days to think about his behavior."

"I guess," he said, still not understanding and feeling vaguely insulted. "What are you guys doing here, anyway?"

"Dr. Drakken's actions last night were a legitimate threat to the security of the entire world," Du answered as they got closer to Bueno Nacho's Corporate Headquarters. The wounded monument loomed over them, and he could see the long scar that Drakken's signal tower had cut into the building. "That falls under our jurisdiction."

"Yeah, but don't you normally let Kim and I handle that?"

"You and Miss Possible did an admirable job of ending the threat before serious damage could be done," the agent admitted. "But our Midwest Headquarters was spiked around the time the first Diablo bots went online, which constitutes an attack on us. If the two of you hadn't taken Drakken out so quickly, we would have."

Ron nodded. That made sense.

"Besides, Global Justice is often involved in the clean-up that takes place after most major villain attacks," he continued. "And Drakken's robots caused damage all over the world. It's out duty to help out."

"Okay, I gotcha." He frowned, then voiced his next concern. "Wade said you found Kim."

Will nodded. "I'm taking you to her right now."

"But why would she help Drakken escape and then come back here?" he wondered.

"That's what I want to know," Du admitted as Kim came into view. "But I'll let you ask her first."

The first thing Ron noticed was that Kim was covered head to toe in an emergency blanket, sitting on the tailgate of an ambulance taking a sip of water while fending off a paramedic who kept trying to examine her. The second thing he noticed was the reason she was clinging very tightly to the blanket and shooing away anybody who came near.

Underneath the barely adequate covering the blanket provided, Kim Possible was completely naked.

"Ron!" she shouted excitedly as soon as she noticed him, waving him over. He smiled nervously and waved back, then ventured closer.

She seemed excited to see him. More excited than she had last night. He had expected all sorts of reactions, but the only expression he could make out on her face was one of relief. Maybe she'd seen the error of her ways?

"Uh, hi KP," he managed when he finally got next to her.

Kim frowned. "Are you alright, Ron?"

The question hit him like a punch in the gut and for several moments he was unsure of how to answer. He was glad to see she was okay, obviously, but last night's wounds were still fresh in his mind and she was acting like nothing in the world was wrong. That confused him, and Ron Stoppable didn't like being confused.

"Am I alright?" he repeated after a moment, deciding that freaking out was the best of the options available to him. "Am I alright? I've been worried sick about you, Kim! First you run out of the prom and the next thing I know I see you on the news helping Drakken and Shego escape to God knows where, and then I get a call from Wade saying you're here! What's going on, KP?"

Kim gave him a look that was reserved for his most special of idiotic rants, as if she had no idea what he was talking about.

"Ron..." she began, slowly, "I've been locked up, _naked_ , in a Bueno Nacho storeroom for the last twelve hours. GJ only found me an hour ago. I never went back to prom."

Ron blinked. Then he blinked some more. He continued blinking until he had convinced himself that life was just a series of blinks and moments in between the blinking. He was snapped out of his blinking frenzy a moment later when Rufus crawled out of his pocket and started tugging on his ear.

"So then wait..." he replied. "If you were here all night, then I never went to prom with... but I remember you were... And then..." He slapped his forehead. "Aw man!"

Kim sat up straighter. "What is it, Ron?"

"Now we've _both_ kissed a synthodrone!" he lamented, still covering his face with one palm.

One eyebrow went up. " _Both_?"

"Oh, right, that was her that said that..." he realized. "Still, sick and wrong! Where's a tube of toothpaste when you need one?"

"You kissed a synthodrone," Kim repeated, just to make sure she had the story straight, "that looked like me?"

"Uh... it was her idea!" he stammered quickly. "'Cause you know, I'd never take advantage like that. I... I like you as a friend, KP! Nothing more! Honest!"

' _Stupid, stupid! Why did you say that_?' he realized a moment later.

"Er, right," she responded a moment later, looking almost... disappointed?

' _Aw man, now you've_ really _blown it, Stoppable_.'

"Anyway," she continued, hugging the blanket tighter around her. "I'd really like to get home and into some real clothes, so if we could get going? I've had enough of this place."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Your parents are waiting in the car."

"Thanks," she said, hopping down to the pavement.

"Yeah, I'm just sorry you had to spend the whole night in the storeroom. I didn't realize that synthodrone wasn't you."

"About that," she replied, remembering what he had mentioned earlier. "Did I hear you say she helped Drakken and Shego get away?"

Ron sighed. "Long story. I'll explain on the way home."

* * *

"So what do we do for fun around here?" Kim asked as she idly did a set of jumping jacks. Shego looked up from where she was reclining on a nearby couch filing her nails long enough to raise an eyebrow at the redhead.

"'Fun?'" she repeated, sounding as though she had long since forgotten what the word meant.

"Yeah, fun," the other girl confirmed, not even breaking a sweat as she continued her intense cardio workout. Shego wondered why she had chosen to do so in her current outfit, but then temperature had never been much of an issue for her since gaining her powers, so the fact that Drakken had yet to get the heater working properly probably mattered more to Kim.

She was clad in some of Shego's old civilian clothes, which consisted of a forest green hoodie that had been strategically unzipped to reveal a black shirt underneath, upon which was emblazoned a lighter green heart that was broken into two pieces. A pair of black jeans completed the ensemble.

"Nothing," Shego answered after a moment. "This is a time for relaxing between jobs."

Kim ended her set of jumping jacks and crossed her arms, smirking. "What's so relaxing about filing your nails?"

"Well, it started as a way to keep static energy from building up in my claws and discharging at inconvenient times," she explained, continuing to file. "But eventually it became a way to focus my body on a single task so I could let my mind wander. Like meditation."

The redhead raised an eyebrow. "I thought meditation was a bunch of monks going 'ooohm.'" She deepened her voice for the impression. "I seriously don't get how anyone would be able to sit around all day and do nothing."

"Eh, I didn't say it was exactly the same. But really, the key is to find a small activity to keep you occupied so your mind can focus on other things."

"I guess."

"Well let me put this in terms you can understand. When you weren't out saving the world, you went to class, right?"

Kim nodded.

"And did your teachers ever tell you not to play with your pencil or tap your feet under the desk or do anything else that annoyed them?"

"Actually Ron took the heat on most of that, but I did used to chew on erasers when I was younger," she revealed as she sat down in the other available chair.

"Exactly. Now why did you do that?"

The girl shrugged. "I don't really know. I guess it helped me learn better."

"Exactly. Children have been shown to concentrate better when they're not forced to sit still. Teachers should be encouraging their kids to play with their pencils, not cracking 'em with rulers."

"What school did _you_ go to?"

"Catholic, but that's not important. My point is just because you're sitting around it doesn't mean you're doing nothing."

Kim wrinkled her brow. "Say, how did you know all that, anyhow?"

"Eh?"

"That thing you said about kids concentrating better," she elaborated. "I didn't think _you'd_ be an expert on children."

Shego's eyes widened momentarily and she stopped filing. Maybe it put her in more of a trance than she'd thought, because she'd come _very_ close to revealing something about her past that she didn't want _anybody_ finding out. It was bad enough that the redhead knew she used to be a hero.

"Uh, internet."

Kim's eyebrow came up again. "Why would you be looking that up in the first place?"

Knowing she couldn't win this argument with excuses, Shego decided to resort to indignation. "None of your business."

' _Yeah, that was_ real _mature_ ,' her inner voice mocked.

' _Quiet, you_ ,' she fired back.

"Ooh, is it something embarrassing?" Kim deduced with frightening speed. "I'll bet it's something embarrassing."

"I'm not telling you anything," she declared, reaching for a magazine and flipping it open. She was a couple paragraphs into an article about villainous hair styles when a mop of red hair descended over the pages and she was confronted with an upside down face.

"May I help you?" she deadpanned.

"You're not going to get me to leave by ignoring me," the redhead promised her, standing up straight again. "I'm gonna find out sooner or later."

"Later it is, then," Shego replied without even glancing up from her article.

"Oh come on!" the teenager whined. "I'm so bored! Just tell me what it is!"

Now it was Shego's turn to raise an eyebrow questioningly. "How old are you again?"

Kim sighed. "I just hate secrets, okay?"

"Well, tough. Just because we're on the same side now doesn't mean we're BFFs all of a sudden."

"But—"

"Go bother Drakken," she suggested. "It's what you're good at anyway."

A wicked smirk came over the girl's face as she considered that.

"Now _that_ sounds like fun."

* * *

"So, they got away," Kim summarized from the middle row of the family minivan. "This is getting _so_ annoying."

"Not to mention the whole world thinks _you_ did it," Monique reminded her from the seat next to her. Ron had ridden shotgun not out of any sort of choice, but because Kim's father wasn't about to let him sit next to his little girl in her current state. Anne had ridden in the back seat to keep an eye on the twins.

"Ugh, thanks for reminding me. This is going to do take some serious damage control from Wade."

"Already on it," the supergenius replied from the Kimmunicator that she held. "You've got a television interview booked for tomorrow after you've rested up. It should put all the rumors to rest."

"Really looking forward to _that_ ," she muttered in a tone that made it clear she wasn't. "Have you had any luck tracking their whereabouts?"

Wade shook his head. "I lost track of them somewhere north of the Canadian border. The two satellite databases aren't exactly connected and by the time I switched over, they'd vanished without a trace."

"You don't think Drakken's gonna try and take over Canada again, do you?" piped up Ron.

"Nah, he's too focused on global domination these days," Kim replied. "Although I do know a guy in Canada who might be able to help you track them."

"Weren't you just rescuing me from Canada the other week?" James asked from the driver's seat.

Kim put a finger to her chin. "Yeah, but I doubt Drakken would go back to that lair. He wasn't even there when I rescued you."

"I'll look into it," promised Wade. "For now just focus on getting some rest."

"You rock," she replied and was just about to hang up when her father chimed in.

"By the way, _Wade_ , I hope you're not staring too hard at my daughter," he spoke in a threatening tone.

" _Dad_!" she shrieked, while her face turned as red as her hair.

"Rest assured, Dr. Possible, my relationship with Kim is strictly professional," Wade insisted without missing a beat. "I'll talk to you guys later."

"Bye, Wade," Kim mumbled.

"The same applies to you, Ronald," James continued.

"Oh, no need to worry, Mr. Dr. P," the teen assured him. "I think of KP like a sister! I wouldn't go sneaking peeks at a sister! No-sirree!" He started breathing heavily and pulling at his collar.

The rest of the car simply stared at him.

The next few minutes were spent in rather awkward silence until the minivan pulled into the driveway. Kim exited first, hurrying into the house so that she could locate a fresh change of clothes. Her family followed shortly afterward, leaving Ron and Monique on the front yard alone. She was staring at him with her arms crossed and one eyebrow raised.

"So, uh, you gonna go in?" he asked.

"In a minute," she replied, not taking her eyes off him. "You think of her like a sister, huh?"

"Well what was I _supposed_ to say?" he demanded. "I've told you what Dr. P said about black holes!"

"I don't think it's him you're worried about," she asserted. "You still haven't told Kim, have you?"

"I'm getting around to it," he muttered, crossing one arm over his chest to clasp the other while glancing to the side.

"Uh-huh. Just don't wait around too long. And quit putting your foot in your mouth like that." She turned and started to walk inside.

Hanging his head, Ron Stoppable followed.

* * *

"Oh, Draaaakken..."

"Gnn," the mad scientist grunted as he set down the piece of equipment he was currently working on and lifted up his welding goggles. "What is it _now_ , Shego?"

"Not Shego," the person behind him corrected, and it was then that he remembered he now had two sidekicks. One of them had apparently been getting lessons from the other in how to best get on his nerves. Not that she'd had any problem doing that beforehand...

"What'cha workin' on?" Kim inquired, pressing her hands down on his shoulder so she could peek over it.

Drakken froze for a moment before recoiling violently. "Gyah!"

The redhead looked utterly confused at this reaction. "What?"

"You were touching me!" he accused, pointing at her. "Why were you touching me?"

"What, are you afraid of cooties?" she mocked. Maybe he should have modified the device to make her less lippy. "Or are you just not used to me touching you unless it's with my fist?"

He thought about that. "The second one," he decided after a moment.

"Well, too bad: you're the one who wanted me as your assistant, so here I am." She raised her hands in the air and spun around. "Take it or leave it."

Drakken frowned, unsure of how to reply to that.

"Now will you tell me what you're working on?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You actually want to know? You're not just goading me on like Shego would?"

She nodded. "I'm _super_ -bored and Shego is _not_ the most interesting person in the world when I'm not fighting her. Spill."

"Alright, then," he replied, grinning. He reached toward the device and held it up proudly for her to see. "This, Kimberly, is to be the beginning of my new creation. I happened to have it lying around and decided to put it to use. I give you: the Sonic Annihilator!"

The device was small, only about two feet across and purple, with a metal disc in the center and two orbs held up by what looked like crazy-straws on each end. Kim eyed the contraption with extreme skepticism.

"The what now?"

"It's a little something I came up with when the sidekick got all my evil. At the time I wanted to use it to make Coco Moo, but I've decided to take Shego's suggestion and use it for something a little more diabolical."

"Which would be?"

"Ah-ah, now that would be telling," he chided with a wag of his finger. "I like to keep my ultimate plans a secret these days."

"Smart," she commented. "Can you at least tell me how it works?"

"Certainly. It uses special sonic pulses to resonate with this metal plate here, causing it to vibrate."

"Mind phrasing that so a high school student can understand it?"

His face contorted into an expression of disbelief. "What are they teaching you kids these days?"

"Mad science isn't exactly on the curriculum. Now translate."

He grumbled before explaining it in broader terms. "It uses sound waves to make things shake."

"You mean it's a mini-earthquake machine?"

"Bah! That's just what Shego thought; you're both thinking small-term! No! The sound waves are the key!"

"Whatever you say, Dr. Drakken."

" _Anyway_ ," he said before setting the device back down. "If you and Shego are up for it I actually do have something for the two of you to steal."

"Spankin'!" she cheered. "Where do you need us to go?"

Drakken grinned wickedly and started rubbing his fingers together. "Oh, I believe you know the location quite well. It's almost like you grew up there..."


	4. Damage Control

"...and the litter of kittens crossed the freeway safely after about three hours. Officials say they would have been done sooner, but somebody threw a ball of yarn out their window. Traffic should be just terrific now. Back to you, Jack."

"Thank you for the traffic update, Tom," Jack Hammer replied as the news report transitioned back to the studio. "And now, the moment you've all been waiting for: our morning show interview with Kim Possible!"

The camera switched to a view of a set utterly dominated by beige, with pastel-colored furniture scattered at random. Clearly whoever designed this set was saving most of their budget for the primetime programs.

"As many of our viewers are aware, Kim Possible was recently involved in the capture of Dr. Drakken and Shego after the doctor's latest scheme threatened the entire world with cybertronic robot toys," the anchor recapped. "The very same night, she was allegedly _also_ involved in said villains' escape from police custody. Miss Possible has agreed to an interview to dispel any rumors regarding said incident. The interview will be conducted by Summer Gale. Summer?"

The camera panned over to where Summer was seated in a large green chair next to a cream-colored couch that held Kim and Ron. Summer smiled pleasantly, as did Kim, while Ron wore a look of apprehension that he was desperately trying to hold back.

"Thank you, Jack," Summer responded. "Miss Possible, I'd like to welcome you and your sidekick to our humble studio."

"It's an honor and a privilege, Summer," Kim replied. "Congrats on your promotion, by the way."

"Well, I always knew I was destined to be more than just a Weather Girl." She gestured proudly towards herself. "Still keeping my fingers crossed for that anchor position. No offense, Jack."

"None taken," the anchor chimed in.

"But getting back to you, Miss Possible," she continued, steering back on track. "I heard you've had quite the night."

"Well, last night I just caught up on some much needed sleep," Kim insisted. "And the night before that wasn't very eventful either."

"That's not how I heard it," the reporter said lightheartedly. "You _did_ save the world, after all."

"Not the first time I've done _that_ ," the teen heroine pointed out. "But it turns out this time, that wasn't exactly me."

"Ah, yes, that is what we're here to talk about, isn't it?" she agreed. "So tell me, Kim: who exactly was that we saw on the video?"

"Well, as much as Drakken's plans always fail in the end, he has come up with some pretty impressive ideas over the years. I didn't find out until the other night, but apparently his synthodrone technology has gotten good enough to the point where they can pass as human."

"You mean Dr. Drakken might have infiltrators in our midst?" the reporter asked with some concern.

"Nothing _that_ serious," Kim dismissed with a wave. "But he did manage to send one in to become my prom date." At the audience's shocked gasp, she continued: "Don't worry, I didn't kiss him. He electrocuted me and shoved me in a storeroom after I totally stomped the floor with Shego. I was out for a few hours after that, and by the time I woke up, it was morning and the day had already been saved."

"By your double?"

"That's correct."

"I see." She gestured to Ron. "Hopefully your sidekick can tell us what happened after that?"

Ron quickly came to resemble a deer in headlights. "Wait, what?"

"I'm assuming _you_ didn't get replaced by a synthodrone?"

"Oh, uh... right. No, I was definitely me. I think."

"So then what happened?"

"Well..." he began, tugging nervously at his collar. "Nothing major. Syntho-Kim and I got out of where they tied us up and she took out Drakken's communications tower, then we went back to prom."

Summer seemed very interested in that last part. "Together?"

Again his eyes grew wider than dinner plates. "Uh... we sorta had to share the scooter, but... _together_? I don't really..."

"We have statements from several students at your school stating that the two of you kissed," she continued, ignoring his protests. " _And_ this video."

"Wait, _what_?" he shrieked, standing up. "What kinda morning show _is_ this?"

"Roll the tape," she ordered.

"No, don't roll the tape! Don't roll the—"

His objection was cut off and the screen was overtaken by a surprisingly high quality video recording of the two of them dancing at the prom. Music could be heard in the background, and everyone in the room seemed to focus on them. There was a moment where they hovered close to each other, and then their lips united in a display even more passionate than the late night movies usually shown by the network.

And then the girl who looked like Kim Possible started running away.

The camera transitioned back to the studio where Kim sat slack-jawed on the couch. Ron stood nearby, smiling nervously.

"We'll be right back after this word from our sponsors," Summer promised.

In the darkness, a single thumb reached down and depressed a button on a remote, shutting off the television. Dr. Drakken cringed nervously.

"Better not let Kim and Shego see this," he muttered.

* * *

 

The Middleton Space Center was a bit of an oddity when it came to government funded research centers. Though it did produce many experimental rockets, a great number of the projects conducted here were a bit broader in their application than simple space travel, though they had to be at least tangentially related to the exploration of the final frontier. It was on the cutting edge of all sorts of technology despite being located in an otherwise average city, which made it a very popular location for people in Washington to send projects that would be too public if NASA developed them.

It also attracted a large number of thieves.

A pair of figures cloaked in shadow huddled on the roof of the main building in front of a small black box in the process of being dissected by a set of deft fingers. They worked in practiced silence, having gone over the details a thousand times before they'd even left their hideout.

"Okay, that takes care of the alarm," one thief announced as she snipped the last pair of wires. "Now for the fun part."

A single claw clinked gently against the skylight, then etched a circle. When she completed the circuit, she gently tipped one end of the glass downward, then quickly grabbed the top and set it on the roof beside her so it didn't fall to the floor below. She hooked her arm inside and undid the latch, then smirked at her partner.

"Impressive, no?"

The other thief provided a smirk of her own. "Well, it sure beats having a naked mole rat chew through the bars."

She raised an eyebrow. "Do I even wanna know?"

"Long story involving Monkey Fist and the International Space Station," the teenager explained vaguely. "Couldn't you just glow it up, though? I've seen you melt through solid glass."

"That _does_ sound like a lot more fun, but every time I 'glow it up,' I always end up leaving evidence behind," she rebutted. "The goal of this little escapade is to get in and out without them knowing we were here."

"And I suppose if some lowly security guard sees you in that green and black catsuit they'll just assume the circus is in town?" the other girl countered, crossing her arms.

" _This_ from a girl whose outfit _glows in the dark_?"

"So not dignifying that with a response," she huffed, then broke that promise a second later. "Besides, I kinda don't have any other clothes, _remember_? You want me to infiltrate a secure building in my prom dress?"

"Hey, I offered you my spare suit," the older woman reminded her. "You're the one who said no."

"Let's just get going, Shego."

The floor was only a ten foot drop below them, low enough that they didn't need any rope. They dropped into the hallway silently and began skulking. The light emanating from Kim's battle-suit actually proved to be a blessing in the darkened corridors, especially since the alternative would have involved Shego using her trademark glow.

Before long they arrived at their first obstacle: a locked door with a palm scanner to the right.

"You do the honors," Shego encouraged, gesturing forward. There was another reason Kim had worn that suit, after all.

The redhead stepped forward and put her hand on the scanner, which hummed a few times and then beeped in affirmative, opening the door.

" _Recognized: Dr. Possible_."

"Score one for Cybertronics," she said with satisfaction, morphing the glove back to its original state. "Remind me why Drakken had my Dad's palm print lying around again?"

"Hell if I know. Now let's move."

She nodded and began creeping through the door into a slightly better lit hallway. This was where the mission got tricky.

Reaching into a bag slung over her shoulder, Shego produced a small canister that she then rolled down the hallway after twisting off the top. Fog began to rise in the hallway, revealing one of the oldest traps in the book.

"Okay seriously, what's so top secret that they need a laser grid?" the green henchwoman wondered aloud. "What's wrong with a motion sensor?"

"Not dramatic enough, I guess," Kim suggested with a shrug. "Lucky we came prepared."

Shego nodded and grinned, fishing out another small contraption as well as a remote control. She set what looked like an old model car on the floor, then drove it so that it rested beneath the focal point of the lasers. Pressing another button on the remote caused the vehicle to split open and reveal a specially cut diamond, which rose in the air until it reached the lasers, refracting them into a different pattern.

"I'm starting to see why you stay with Drakken," the teen admitted. "He comes up with some pretty nifty toys."

"Actually, it has more to do with the mocking opportunities," she replied. "But the toys are nice too."

Now that the lasers were pointing at the ceiling instead of the floor, the two of them were able to walk calmly down the hallway to the next door. Once they were past the lasers, Shego retracted the diamond and drove the car to their position, then stopped to scoop up the canister she had rolled originally. No sense leaving a mess for the cops to find.

The hallway led into a large, rectangular chamber lined with rows upon rows of electronic black monoliths, which served as the one of the Space Center's many server banks. It wasn't the mainframe, but they hadn't come here for that anyway.

"Should be right here on the end," said Shego, stopping in front of one of the servers. "Work your magic, Possible."

She nodded and pressed a couple buttons on the suit, which morphed her finger into a port which she used to connect to the server. A few more taps initiated a process that easily overpowered the firewalls and gave her access to the files within. The data transfer began within seconds.

"May have lost Wade, but his tech still seriously rocks," she said, grinning.

"Yeah, I never got why you had Stoppable if your techno geek made all the gadgets for you. Why wasn't he your sidekick?"

"Major case of never leaving his room," Kim explained. "And Ron helped... in his own way."

"Yeah, well with Drakken you get the best of both worlds," Shego replied. "Smart enough to invent stuff _and_ surprisingly resourceful."

"Hey, Ron had mad genius skills when he turned evil, remember?"

"Actually, that's 'cause it wasn't just Drakken's evil that got transferred over," she corrected. "Besides, the only way that'd be useful to you is if you switched..."

"Yes?" Kim answered with a smirk.

"Nevermind. We're not bringing him onboard, if that's what you were thinking."

"Don't worry, I wasn't. I wouldn't want to get him involved in this life."

Shego decided to change the subject before Kim started questioning why _she_ had gotten involved this life. "You done yet?"

"Just about," the girl responded, glancing at a progress bar that had appeared on her arm. "Should be just a few—"

"Hold it right there, you two!"

Kim gasped, but the situation was familiar enough to Shego that she just let out a frustrated sigh.

"I'm calling security, so don't get any bright ideas you..." The voice trailed off. "Kimmie-Cub?"

Her eyes went wide as dinner plates and she jerked her finger out of the server just as the files finished downloading.

" _Dad_?"

* * *

"So, uh... this is awkward," Ron spoke up, breaking the silence that had endured for the past fifteen minutes since they arrived back at Kim's home.

" _Brilliant_ observation, Ron," Kim deadpanned as she leaned on the opposite end of the couch. She wasn't looking at him.

Monique sat on a chair across from them with her arms crossed and her features set in a disapproving glare. She stayed silent for the moment.

"So, that was some interview, huh?" he continued, trying to keep the conversation going. "I mean except for the end there, with the video clip and you fainting..."

"Ron, _you_ fainted," the redhead corrected. " _I_ had to make sure you didn't get a concussion from hitting the stage."

"Oh, right. Still, at least people don't think you're working with Drakken and Shego anymore, huh?"

"I'd be surprised if they even remember that's what the interview was supposed to be about," she seethed. "This is even _more_ embarrassing."

Ron frowned. "What, you mean the fact that I kissed Syntho-You?"

"No, the fact that you _lied_ to me about it," she replied, finally turning to face him. " _You_ said you only liked me as a friend. That kiss didn't look very friendly!"

"Well it was _her_ idea, KP, I just responded to it!"

"You were responding pretty hard!"

"I didn't know it wasn't you!" he protested, standing up. "If I did I wouldn't have kissed her!"

Kim shot to her feet as well. "So what you're saying is you only kissed her because you thought it was _me_?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying!"

She blinked as the full impact of those words hit her. "Oh. That's... I..."

"KP, you're right," he confessed, closing his eyes. "I _was_ lying to you. I don't just think of you as a friend. Not anymore, at least. And I didn't want to tell you because... well..."

"Because of the way I just reacted?"

"Yes, exactly! Kim, I... I have feelings for you. I've had them for a while now. And I never really noticed them until you started spending all your time with Erik."

Kim frowned, unsure of how to respond. "Ron..."

"I got jealous and petty and for the first time in my life... I thought I might lose you, KP," he continued. "I guess I always thought you'd wait for me to be ready, like you always do." He sighed. "You've always waited for me to catch up to you, Kim. But it felt like you were finally leaving me behind."

"Ron, that's not—"

"That's why I did it, KP. That's why I kissed the person I thought was you. Being your friend just isn't enough for me anymore." He hung his head and turned away. "But I can understand if that freaks you out. I won't bother you again, KP." He started walking away, then stopped when a hand clasped his shoulder.

"And just _where_ do you think you're going?" she chided, and he turned around to see her smirking.

"Um... away. Far away."

She crossed her arms. "And why would you want to do _that_?"

"Because I ruined our friendship by kissing Syntho-You. And I don't think we can go back to being just friends because I'm worried you're just going to find another guy like Erik. And I don't think I could handle that again."

Kim rolled her eyes. "Ron, you _seriously_ need to start paying more attention." She stepped forward and draped her arms around his neck, then leaned in and gave him a long, passionate kiss on the lips.

When they emerged, Ron began blinking rapidly. "Huh? But I thought..."

She giggled. "Ron, do you remember what I told you after the Moodulator incident?"

He scratched his head, not sure where she was going with this but trying to remember it all the same. "That there's still fireworks?"

The teen hero nodded. "Ron, the Moodulator only affected how I reacted to what was already on my mind. It didn't suddenly give me feelings for you. I think they were always there. It just... pushed them up to the surface."

"That makes... a little bit of sense," he responded. "But then why didn't we start dating after that?"

"Believe it or not... because I didn't want to ruin our friendship."

They both laughed.

"Ron, I don't care that you kissed my duplicate, especially since you had no reason to believe it wasn't me," she revealed. "Just be honest about it next time, okay?"

"Next time? You mean she's gonna try and kiss me again?"

"No, silly. I just mean you don't have to lie to me about your feelings. In case you didn't get the message, it's kinda mutual."

Ron lit up. "Booyah!" he shouted, pumping his fist.

She sidled closer to him. "Now, let's go over that kiss again, Potential Boy. I think I missed it the first time." They both started to lean in.

"A _hem_."

Kim gasped and stood ramrod straight while her cheeks turned even redder than her hair. "Right, Monique!" She spoke through sheepish teeth. "You're still here!"

" _Mm_ hmm. And it seems like I owe Ron here an apology. You're _both_ seriously WITH."

"Say what now?"

"Wacked in the Head!" she translated. "You're seriously gonna get together with Stoppable here when he hasn't even apologized for lying to you?"

"He hasn't? But, I forgave him already," she insisted.

"I must have missed that part," she deadpanned. "Still, girl, you are seriously OTR."

"Wait, what does that one mean?" asked Ron.

"On the Rebound," they chorused. "And I am so not!" protested Kim.

"Are so. It's the same reason your double went after him: Erik betrayed you and you started looking for someone else to fill the void."

"That is _not_ what... What makes _you_ the expert anyway? It's not like you're any better at choosing boyfriends!"

Monique shook her head and leaned back further in the chair. "Don't try and turn this on _me_ , Kim, 'cause we both know that won't work. I've been your friend long enough to know that what you're doin' here ain't because of your feelings for Ron."

"And how do you know it's not?"

"Because otherwise you two would've hooked up a long time ago. He already told you it was Erik that made him reconsider how he felt about you. And it's the same reason on your end."

"Wait, time out," interjected Ron. "I thought you _wanted_ the two of us to get together. Why are you trying to break us apart now?"

"I'm not," she insisted. "But I don't wanna see you two break up in three months because you rushed into this without thinking about what happens after the first kiss. This is gonna mean more than just adding physical activities to your normal routine."

Ron raised his eyebrow. "Like what?"

"You can't just keep goin' to Bueno Nacho all the time if you're boyfriend and girlfriend. Kim deserves a higher class of place now that you want to show her how much you care about her. And boy, I have seen the coupon book that you used on Zita, so don't think _that's_ gonna fly, either."

"But there's so many great bargains," he protested.

"And if you're gonna be a good boyfriend to Kim, you have to show her that she's worth more than that," she retorted. "And Kim, part of bein' a good girlfriend to Ron means you can't just let him be a goofy sidekick anymore. You have to help him grow into a man who can walk beside you or he's gonna turn into dead weight."

"Mon, I know how dating works," Kim insisted, annoyed. "I've been on a few, in case you haven't noticed."

"There's a difference between getting together with someone you kind of like but don't really know and someone you've known your whole life," she explained. "My parents were best friends since the second grade. They started dating in high school and they got married right out of college. And do you know what happened?"

They shook their heads.

"My dad walked out on my mom and they got divorced soon after. Now he lives in Ohio and I only get to see him a few times a year. And it's all because they didn't know how to act around each other once there was a change in the relationship. And make no mistake, it _will_ change. And not always in the way you'd like."

Kim hung her head and sighed. "I get what you're saying, Monique. And I totally get why you're so passionate about it. But I think we can make this work." She turned to Ron. "As long as you're willing to work on it too?"

He smiled. "Always, KP."

Monique remained unconvinced. "Just remember that the first time you two fight," she retorted, then smiled. "But seriously, congratulations. After everything you two have been through, you deserve this."

"Thanks, Monique," Kim replied.

"Don't mention it, girlfriend," she deflected, then shifted moods. "Now give me a hug because I'm seriously excited for you."

The two of them embraced joyfully and started leaping up and down.

_Beep-Beep-Be-Beep_!

They separated and Kim pulled out her Kimmunicator.

"What's the Sitch, Wa... _Daddy_?"

"Just making sure you're still home, Kimmie-Cub," Dr. Possible responded from the screen, though the stern glare never left his face. "I was hoping you could explain to me why I saw you at the lab just now with that circus woman."

"You mean Shego?"

"Was that her name? Yeah, now I remember it. Why were you with her?"

She rolled her eyes. "Dad, I just went on national television and explained that Drakken made a synthetic copy of me to do his bidding. You don't think _that_ might have been who you saw?"

"Oh, right. I must have missed that. In any case, we could use you down here."

"On my way now, Dad," she promised, already moving towards her mission gear.

"I'm comin' too, KP," insisted Ron.

She smiled. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

Kim had no choice but to hold her breath as the green and black jet started rocketing along the Space Center's runway, where they had managed to hide it for the duration of their heist. Drakken's cloaking technology had been good enough to fool the Japan Air Defense Force a week earlier during the attempt to kidnap Mr. Nakasumi, and the Space Center's systems had been just as easy to elude.

The next few minutes were spent in tense silence as Shego brought them to a high enough altitude to avoid the anti-air patrols that stood between them and the lair. The hover-car was good for flying below the radar, but a supersonic jet tended to be a tad more noticeable. The G-Forces finally faded as she leveled the plane, allowing them to breathe easy.

"Now do you mind telling me what that was all about?" demanded Shego's voice from the headset built into the high-altitude helmet she was wearing.

The design of the jet meant that there was a clear Plexiglas partition between their seats, so that each pilot could eject separately—not that Kim knew how to fly this thing. In any case, it put a serious damper on their ability to have a face to face conversation.

"What do you mean?" she radioed back.

"I mean the way you froze up as soon as you saw your dad. You're not having second thoughts, are you?"

"What? Of course not. I just wasn't expecting to see him there, that's all."

"You weren't expecting to see your dad at the place where he works?"

"Not that late at night!" she clarified. "And it's not like I keep track of his schedule."

"Look, it's okay if you got caught off guard," Shego reassured her. "I just need to know you aren't going to go running back just because you feel guilty for turning your back on your friends and family."

"Of course not," the teen insisted. "Saving the world is _so_ last season."

"Just needed to hear it from you, Kimmie."

Silence reigned supreme for several more minutes before Kim started to wonder about something. "Why are you so concerned, anyway?"

Shego held off on answering for a few moments, and she could only assume that the green woman was pondering that question carefully. "Well, I could say that it's in my interest as Drakken's fellow employee to make sure you stay loyal, but you know I don't give two hoots about his 'evil family' nonsense."

"So then why?"

"Because..." She grumbled something under her breath. "I can't believe I'm gonna tell you this, but... I didn't just run out on my brothers the one time."

She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You ever watch _The Q-Force_? That show they rerun on TV Trash Heap every now and then about the identical quintuplets who decide to fight crime?"

"A couple of times with Ron, yeah," she admitted. "Why?"

"You remember those episodes where Jeremy would run off and team up with the villains after fighting with the rest of the team because his methods went too far?"

"They had other plots?"

She laughed. "Yeah, good point. Anyway, in real life, I was Jeremy."

"You fought with your brothers and then ran out and teamed up with the villains? And they just welcomed you back every time?"

"Well, Hego had it in his head that I was just acting out for attention, which I guess was part of it, and the first few times I was actually blackmailed or mind-controlled into it, but eventually I just started getting so mad at my brothers that I took any opportunity I saw to piss them off."

"But you kept coming back," she observed.

"Exactly. Finally something happened where I decided I'd had enough, and I got as far away from those idiots as possible. I figured teaming up with a villain that had nothing to do with them would keep me from being tempted to go back. By the time I saw them again I was way over it."

"Well, to be honest, I can kinda see why you ditched them. They were pretty annoying."

"Eh, that's family. Just wanted to make sure the same thing wasn't happening here."

"You don't need to worry about it, Shego. Tonight was... fun. It was nice seeing the break-in from the other side for once."

"And now you understand why it's so annoying whenever somebody interrupts the whole thing," she responded. "It's good to have you onboard, Possible."

She smiled behind her mask. "Good to be here."

* * *

"So... nothing got stolen?"

"Not as far as I can tell, Kimmie-cub," Dr. Possible answered. "She was touching one of the servers but I really don't think she could have gotten anything without some sort of storage device."

"It doesn't really fit with Shego's MO," she observed. "She usually likes to grab the hardware and run." She pondered that for a second. "But she did have me with her, so I'd want to do things a little more stealthily." She gasped as the realization struck her. "Wait, what was she wearing?"

"That circus outfit I always see her in. She really should get some different clothes."

Kim rolled her eyes. "Not Shego, Dad. What was my duplicate wearing?"

"Oh, hm." He scratched his chin. "It certainly wasn't like any circus outfit I've ever seen. It was white and it had glowy blue stripes all over it."

Growling, the teen hero smacked her forehead. "Of _course_! She still has the battlesuit!"

"The what now?"

She ignored him for the moment, fishing the Kimmunicator out of her pocket. "Wade, I need you to patch into the Space Center's computer systems and tell me what was stolen."

"Gotcha covered, Kim," the supergenius responded, clacking away at his keyboard. "Hm. Actually, I'll need you to hook up the Kimmunicator directly. Those servers you're standing next to aren't connected to the main network."

"And why's that?"

"These servers hold all our most top secret projects," Dr. Possible informed her. "We run them on their own separate intranet without any connection to other networks. Remote hacking is impossible because there's no way to access the server unless you're standing right in front of it."

"Which probably explains why those two felt the need to break in," Kim inferred. She unspooled the cord from the Kimmunicator and plugged it into the server, and then Wade's hands went to work.

"See anything, Wade?"

"This would be a lot easier if I knew how they broke past the firewalls," he admitted.

"Try looking for whatever you programmed into the battlesuit to override electronic security," she suggested.

Wade raised an eyebrow. "Wait, how'd you know about that?"

"I read the manual after you gave me the suit, remember?" she replied. "And if _I_ thought of it, that's probably what my evil twin thought of, too."

"Good call, Kim," he congratulated her after a few more keystrokes. "I definitely recognize those protocols. Looks like she downloaded a series of files labeled 'Project Warwolf.'"

"Wait, what about werewolves?" inquired Ron, who had just gotten back from the bathroom.

"Not werewolf, Ronald. _War_ wolf," Dr. Possible corrected.

"There's a difference?"

Kim just stared dumbly for a few seconds before shaking her head and continuing. "What's the project about?"

"That's the thing, Kim," Wade replied somewhat dejectedly. "It looks like somebody modified the programming of the battlesuit to corrupt the original versions of the files after it finished downloading them," he revealed. "The only reason I found out the name was because what was left of the original protocols left me a trail to follow. It'll take me a while to rebuild them."

"I wouldn't have thought of that," she admitted. "Drakken?"

"All that time working with the Diablos must have taught him a lot about Cybertronics," he agreed. "I probably shouldn't have based so much of the suit's tech off of your dad's project."

"Now see here!" Dr. Possible scolded. "Hacking into my project was a serious breach of privacy! I could have you arrested!"

"Actually, I just asked Jim and Tim," he clarified. "They peeked at your notes a little bit."

"And they understood them well enough to pass it on to you? Well, aren't those two a couple of little geniuses!" he said cheerily, then instantly shifted moods. "I'm still not happy about it, though, especially since it's led to this."

"Can we focus here?" Kim urged. "Any idea what's in those files, Dad?"

He scratched his head. "Well, I spent most of my time on the Hephaestus project, so I'm not up to date. I know Dr. Renton was the lead on it because the project involved a lot of Cyber-Robotics."

"Great, we'll swing by Felix's house tomorrow," Kim decided.

"Yeah, _after_ we've gotten a lot of shut-eye," added Ron. "What kind of morning show tapes the night before?"

" _Early_ morning," answered Wade even as his hands sailed over the keyboard. "They're only going to show this thing at 4am."

"Of course, clear everything up while everybody's asleep," Kim grumbled. "Meanwhile the story about me being in league with Drakken got live coverage."

"Don't worry about it, Kim," the computer genius assured her. "I've made a few... adjustments to their story line-up. They'll be repeating the interview every hour."

"You continue to rock in surround sound, Wade," she replied with a smirk.

He grinned back as he reclined and put his hands behind his head. "As you would put it Kim, it's no big."

She glanced at Ron and smiled. "Let's go home."

* * *

The jet came to a halt at the end of the hangar located inside the mountain fortress, stopping precisely over a small circle that sunk into the floor and transported the two of them down into the main lair. Catwalks patrolled by henchmen decorated the cavernous chamber, while scientists scurried to and fro like caffeinated ferrets. Drakken had been busy while they were gone.

The cockpit opened the moment the lift reached the bottom and the two of them leapt gracefully out, landing on the immaculate stone floor. The lead scientist walked cautiously up to them.

"The computer is ready for the data transfer," he informed them with some trepidation, remembering what happened last time.

"Good," congratulated Kim as she strolled over to the large computer bank that rested just behind the jet and inserted her finger into one of the ports. A flurry of schematics appeared on the screen, and the scientists around them immediately stopped what they were doing and started hurriedly jotting down notes.

"Nerds," Shego grunted dismissively, then nodded her head towards the door. "C'mon, Kimmie, let's go see Dr. D."

They were halfway there when the floor suddenly swallowed Kim whole. Shego rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Oh come on! We got what you were after!" she shouted at the ceiling, then shrieked as the ground opened up beneath her as well.

" _I know, Shego; I just wanted to test something out_ ," Drakken's voice replied over the loudspeakers.

"Oh boy, here it comes, Princess," she sighed. "Brace yourself."

In an instant they were surrounded on all sides by synthodrones. The two women simply stood there, not even bothering to take a fighting stance.

"Is he seriously going to waste our time with this?" Kim inquired.

"He probably just wants to see how long his new babies will survive," she offered.

"They'd last longer against a meat grinder," the teen declared.

"See who can pop the most?"

"You're on."

In perfect unison, the two of them sprung into action, downing a synthodrone each with their first attack. Shego's well-honed claws carved easily through the containment suit and into the syntho-goo underneath, while Kim simply leapt into the air and brought her heel down hard on the nearest drone's chest, sending it to the floor.

Using the felled synthodrone as a springboard, she tucked her legs in and flipped over another adversary, spinning as she landed to deliver a hard kick directly into its back. It sailed straight towards Shego, who grabbed her opponent by the chest and swung it over her head one-handed so that the two of them collided in mid-air.

"Not bad, Kimmie," the green henchwoman congratulated before gutting both of them. "But you're forgetting the rules of the contest. That's three for me."

Kim smirked. "Oh, I didn't forget, Shego," she corrected as the right arm on her battlesuit started to shift into some sort of blade. "I was just giving you a head start."

With that, she spun quickly around and cleaved into a synthodrone who had been attempting to sneak up behind her, cutting it diagonally. The two halves started to slide off each other, and the goo settled down to the floor.

Shego stood there mutely until an unlucky synthodrone lunged at her, forcing her to react. She slashed through it easily, bringing her count to four.

Meanwhile, Kim had started cutting into the horde, slicing one syntho-goon across the chest before kicking it into two others, bringing all of them to the ground. Blue energy had started to glow around her arm, burning through the protective suits like a knife through butter that had been sitting out for hours. She brought her forearm up to block a strike by a synthodrone on her left, then plunged the blade directly between its "eyes," chopping through another when she pulled it out. Still holding onto the first one, she hurled them into each other and sent them both to the floor.

Now they were tied.

Growling, Shego decided to focus on the one thing she had that Kim didn't: range. Adding more power to her glow, she fired off a series of furious shots, but the drones were able to avoid them by ducking and dodging.

' _They're getting smarter_ ," she realized, then dialed up the intensity of her blasts. The synthodrones were fast, but a couple of them weren't fast enough, and soon they had been reduced to numbers five and six on her checklist. ' _Let's see Princess match_ that.'

It turned out, Kim was actually surpassing her, as she spotted at least three new corpses around the redhead. She snarled and punched through another drone, then pitched it in the other girl's direction, hoping to throw her off her game. Kim didn't even break her flow, pausing briefly to slice through the thrown enemy before returning her attention to the goons around her, using the momentum she had built up to decapitate another drone.

By now the synthodrones sensed the greater threat and started to mob up on Kim, who welcomed the added challenge with a smile on her face. Thrusting her blade-arm forward, she stabbed through the drone in front of her, then sent it flying back with a powerful front kick before turning around to deliver a strong left to the another synthodrone approaching from behind her. A quick slash to the midsection made short work of it, and a butterfly kick kept the others at bay while allowing her to put some distance in between her and them.

Shego did the best she could to keep up with the synthodrones on her end while stopping herself from gawking at the frighteningly beautiful display that Kim was putting on. The battlesuit did more than protect Kim in battle; it augmented her strength, speed and durability, and was designed to allow whoever wore it to go toe to toe with the likes of her on her best day. Of course, Kim had been doing that already for years, so the suit pushed her beyond that and turned her into something almost superhuman.

By now Kim had slaughtered most of the remaining synthodrones, and was down to the last three. She finished up by dropping to the ground suddenly and spinning counter-clockwise with her left leg extended, sweeping the nearest drone off its feet and impaling it on her waiting blade-arm as she rose, lifting it high above her head. Spinning to build momentum, she hurled it into another drone and sent them both crashing to the ground, then delivered the killing blow to the final synthodrone by slicing it head to groin.

She remained in a kneeling position with her blade resting on the ground until she heard the sound of clapping behind her, at which point she rose and morphed the suit back into its regular shape.

"Excellent work, Kimberly!" Drakken praised, rushing over to congratulate her. "Isn't she ferocious, Shego?"

' _Ferocious and_ scary,' Shego corrected in her head, but her mouth said something different. "Eh, she was okay."

"No, _you_ were okay, Shego," he insisted. " _She_ was _fantastic_!" His smile dimmed as he saw all the syntho-goo around them. "We're going to need a bigger mop."

"Mind telling me why you had them attack us in the first place?" she demanded. "We didn't even fail you."

"Well, I had to test out the upgrades somehow," he answered. "Walk with me."

They shrugged and followed as he began walking past chambers that were once bustling with evil schemes, now left empty in case they needed room for his new master plan.

"I also wanted to see how well you two fought side by side," he continued. "And I've concluded that you two need to work on your teamwork. Not everything has to be a competition, you know."

"You only say that because nobody ever picked you for kickball," Shego remarked.

"Be that as it may, Shego, until your duties are required again you two are to start spending more time training together. I need you to... bond or something like that."

"Yes, Dr. Drakken," agreed Kim, though at least it was in a normal tone of voice this time.

Shego raised an eyebrow. "You're serious about this?"

Drakken nodded. "Perfectly. Loyalty is what keeps our foes together. Just ask Kimberly here."

"Eh?" She glanced at the redhead for an explanation.

"You ever wonder why Ron and I always beat you guys?" she asked, but answered before her inevitable quip. "Because unlike you two, we're good enough friends that we stay together when the times get tough."

"Hey, I stick by Dr. D!" she insisted very defensively. "I even stayed with him after..." She paused, not wanting to bring up the Mind Control incident for fear that it would arouse Kim's suspicion. "Look, we've been through some tough times, too! Mostly thanks to you."

Drakken turned around and grinned. "And _you_ said you don't believe we're an evil family."

"I still don't!" she insisted. "And don't go telling me to work on my 'teamwork!' I stopped worrying about that a long time ago!"

He looked confused by her outburst, and Shego honestly didn't understand where that had come from herself. Kim, on the other hand, understood perfectly.

"I think it's better if you drop it, Dr. Drakken," she urged. "Team Go issues." She gently put her hands on Shego's arm and started leading her away.

"Wait, what are you doing?" he asked as they walked off.

Kim turned her head around and smirked. "Bonding."


	5. Personal

"Man, I can't believe we still have a month of school left," Ron complained as they entered the large double doors on their first day back to school after the otherwise uneventful weekend. "I thought prom was supposed to be the end of things."

"That might be how it works in eighties movies, Ron, but the school doesn't want us obsessing about romance and forgetting our assignments the last week of school. Besides, they still have a graduation to throw for the seniors and they need some time to recoup their budget."

He raised an eyebrow. "How do you know all this?"

"You learn a lot when you're on almost every planning committee," she explained. "Relax. It at least gives us more time to spend with our friends to let them know we're a couple now."

"And for you to prove the rumors that you're in league with Drakken wrong, of course," he added.

Kim shrugged as they reached their lockers and she opened hers to withdraw a couple books for her first period Latin. "I guess so. It's not like anyone here ever really cared about my missions before."

"A prophet is only unwelcome in his home town," Ron recited, and Kim fixed him with a puzzled look.

"Isn't that the wrong half of the Bible for you to be quoting?"

"Eh, it just seemed appropriate," he excused.

"Speaking of your heritage," she began, clutching her books to her chest as they started walking again. "How are your parents taking the news that we're together?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. I haven't gotten around to telling them and they haven't asked."

"You don't think you should let them know?"

"KP, I get that you have a really tight relationship with your fam, and that's one of the reasons I come over all the time, but the Stoppables don't talk about things. Like, ever."

She frowned. "That doesn't sound like a very nice home life."

"Hey, they're not bad parents or anything, I just hardly ever see them because they're at work all the time. I have no idea how your parents spend so much time with you."

"Well, Mom has specific days that she sets aside for surgeries and Dad's able to work on a lot of his projects at home. But honestly? One of the reasons I started going on missions was because I was a latchkey kid growing up."

"You mean you hardly saw them?"

"Well, the Tweebs were born around the same time they both got far enough in their careers that they could afford to work fewer hours, but there was a period in my life where I'd come home and just sit around for a whole afternoon waiting for them to get in late at night and spend a few minutes with me before they went to bed. That's also the reason I took on so many extracurriculars. I hate sitting around with nothing to do."

Ron frowned. "I feel like I should have already known all that."

She glanced at him curiously. "Why?"

"Well, we're dating now and even though we've known each other our whole lives I never really paid attention to stuff like what you just told me. It feels like there's so many things I don't know about you."

Kim giggled, then smirked. "That's the _point_ of dating, silly," she replied. "To find out more about each other. The only reason you didn't know that about me is because it didn't come up before. I had no idea you weren't that close to _your_ parents."

"Yeah, well, I can tell 'em later," he decided. "Right now I think we should focus on survival."

"Why's that?" she questioned, cocking an eyebrow.

"Bonnie, twelve o'clock," he warned, and Kim looked ahead to see that the brunette was standing just before an intersection in the hallways, waiting to ambush them.

"Well, if it isn't the happy couple," Bonnie said as they got closer.

Kim rolled her eyes. "Oh, knock it off, Bonnie. That didn't work at prom, so what makes you think anybody's gonna care now?"

"Oh, I'm not here to mock," she promised. "I just thought there was something I should bring to your attention."

"And what, pray tell, is that?"

She pointed at Ron. "His eyes glow when he's mad."

Bonnie had evidently been hoping for a more devastating impact, seeing how she did not react well to the blank stares Kim and Ron gave her in response.

"Well? Isn't that weird? You don't have any questions about that?"

"Sorta, but I think I already know." She glanced at Ron. "MMP?"

He nodded. "Sorry, Kim. She was pressuring me about you and I almost lost it. That was before I knew you were alright."

"Eh, it's not like I haven't almost flipped out at her before. I appreciate the restraint, though."

Bonnie stood there flabbergasted. "Wait, _what_? What are you talking about?"

"Oh!" Kim replied, remembering that the brunette was still there. "Ron had this thing freshman year where he stood in the center of four monkey idols and got imbued with Mystical Monkey Power, which allowed him to defeat Monkey Fist when he got all crazy and tried to kill him."

If Bonnie's mother had been there to observe the look on her face, she would have told her to change it before it got stuck that way. "Who?"

"You remember that time at Cheer Regionals when I got turned into a monkey and had to fight that crazy guy with the monkey hands and feet in the gym? That guy."

"Okay, that's _it_!" Bonnie shrieked, and everybody in the hallway stopped to witness the meltdown. "Do you have any idea how flipping _weird_ that sounds?"

Kim shrugged. "Weird is part of my life, Bon. I mean, you went with me on that trip to Dementor's lair."

"Yes, and that was the most annoying interruption of my life _ever_!" she declared. "But it's not the only one. Nobody cares about your little weirdo expeditions when you're on your own time, Possible, but you keep bringing it here with you! Like that time you and Flanner released a _giant monster_ in the science lab!"

"Actually, Mr. Barkin was the one who pushed the button," the redhead reminded her.

Bonnie was not listening. "Or the gravy ghost!"

"That wasn't her fault," Ron insisted calmly. "That was Master Sensei trying to send a message."

"Whatever! And let's not forget the fact that you ruined everybody's prom night with those stupid Mexican devil toys!"

"It's not my fault Drakken attacked!" Kim insisted. "Plus, he was targeting _the whole world_! That includes the gym!"

"Exactly!" Bonnie shouted, raising her arms above her head and gesturing like a crazy person. "You've always got these crazy villains coming after you and now the rest of us are starting to get caught in the crossfire! I shouldn't have to live in fear of some German midget with a crazy gadget getting me stuck to you for two days!"

She crossed her arms and glared. "If you wanna have your little adventures, go right ahead. But don't bring your weirdness here. The rest of us are getting a little sick of it."

As she walked away dramatically, leaving Kim without an opportunity to rebut her, Ron said something completely unexpected.

"You know, these little speeches of yours work better when you've got other people standing behind you," he pointed out, and she froze. "I can't help but notice you've been all alone ever since prom."

Bonnie turned around, her features utterly consumed by rage. She clenched her fists and ground her teeth, but was not left with many options other than standing there fuming impotently.

"You're both _freaks_!" she shouted eventually, then stormed off. None of the rest of the students in the hall seemed to care, though a few of them did start giggling and pointing in her general direction.

Kim stood there, blinking. "Is it just me, or did Bonnie just drop a few levels on the food chain?"

"Honestly, I don't know what her problem is," Ron answered, glaring after the brunette's retreating form.

She smirked. "Thanks for coming to the rescue there, by the way. Usually I'm the one who's always ready with a one-liner."

He shrugged. "Hey, nobody talks to you like that. Especially not now that you're my girlfriend."

Kim smiled, then gave him a peck on the lips. "See you next period," she promised before walking in the opposite direction.

He watched her go, and felt a familiar sensation as four tiny paws scrambled up his shirt. "And where were you this whole time, Rufus? I could've used some backup."

The naked molerat stretched out his arms in response, communicating that he had been napping in his pocket. He turned back to Kim, and grinned. "How did I get so lucky, Rufus?"

A shrug. "I'unno."

"I think this is the start of a brand new chapter in our lives, little buddy," he declared, stretching his arm out in front of him and gesturing from left to right. "It's smooth sailing from here."

As if to thwart his newfound optimism, the tardy bell chose that exact moment to ring.

"That is, assuming I get to class on time," he remarked before breaking into a full-on run.

* * *

"Princess, what are we doing here?"

Kim neglected to answer for a moment, staring at the expansive chamber in front of them. "Wow, you guys have a spankin' gym. I feel bad I missed it last time around."

She did not have an immediate reply for that, so instead Shego reflected on the fact that, all things considered, it _was_ a pretty nice gym. It was centered around a gigantic, mat-covered circle, half a football field in diameter. A little excessive for most, but given the number of henchmen Drakken had at any given time it was useful for training large numbers of them at once. That is, assuming they ever actually used it. There were weight machines on the opposite side of the ring, with a series of bars to their left. They stepped further into the enormous room.

"And we're in here _why_?" she retorted after a few moments' deliberation.

"Because," Kim answered, turning around. "Drakken told us we needed to do a little bonding. I figure this is just the place."

"Okay, you've lost me."

"Think about it, Shego," she continued, gesturing her arms up and outward. "There's big open space, that fight with the synthodrones really got our blood pumping, and I'm wearing the battlesuit so I know you won't be able to hurt me..."

Shego got the picture in a hurry. "Wait a damn minute! Are you saying you wanna _fight_?"

The other girl smirked. "And here I thought you'd never guess."

"Okay, not that it's our first dance or anything, but seriously: what gives?"

"It doesn't take a genius to see that you've been stressed ever since I broke you out of the prison van, Shego," Kim answered, beginning to circle her. "And I get why me being here might set you on edge. And I never really apologized for kicking you into that tower..." She rested a hand on her shoulder, but the green woman shrugged it off.

"Touch me again and I'll give you something to be sorry about," she snarled.

"That's the spirit," Kim encouraged, coming in front of her again. "I think what you need is an opportunity to cut loose, Shego. Don't you want to get back at me for what I did to you?"

After a moment's reflection, Shego decided that she did. She _really_ did. She nodded.

The redhead smiled. "Good. Of course, I'm not the kind of girl to just give you a free shot." She grinned, then shifted into a fighting stance. "You're gonna have to work for it."

Shego smirked before wreathing her hands in the Go Team Glow. "Wouldn't have it any other way, Princess."

They stood there for several more moments, sizing each other up. She had faced Kim many times before, and, loath as she was to admit it, lost to her most of them. Her one-sided rampage earlier was still fresh in Shego's mind, as was getting kicked into a tower the last time the redhead had worn that suit. It made her more than a little nervous, not that she was going to let that show.

As they began to circle each other, Shego calculated her advantages. She had her powers on her side, which not only gave her the means to mount a formidable onslaught, but also allowed her to use ranged attacks instead of getting up close and personal like her opponent would have to.

Then again, that damn suit seemed specifically designed to counter her powers, and Kim had been dealing with them for years anyway. Shego knew that her powers worked best when fueled by intense emotion, which had the potential to get out of control, but she had learned to master it over the years. If she was going to win this, she would have to take the offensive and never let up even for a second. She was going to have to get angry.

Fortunately, that was the easiest thing of all.

The glow around her hands swelled larger, and Shego let out a savage cry before drawing her elbows behind her and thrusting both arms forward, releasing it all. Kim dodged to the side with a butterfly kick, while the energy rocketed across the room and took a chunk out of a nearby wall. Shego flared up again and leapt after the cheerleader, who flipped out of the way a moment before she slammed her hands into the ground, creating a sizeable dent. Kim twisted in the air and turned around, landing behind her.

Shego stood up and turned around, firing twin blasts at the other girl, who cartwheeled to the side. She moved quickly forward to intercept her and slashed her arm diagonally down, the glow trailing behind her talons. Kim was faster, and hopped back to get out of the way. Shego charged into the opening, swiping at her again. The other girl ducked below it, then rose and dipped to the side as Shego followed with a straight punch. A spinning backhand was just as easily evaded, and the cheerleader used the augmented strength that the suit provided to backflip some twenty feet away.

It was at this point that Shego noticed something odd.

"Why the hell aren't you fighting back?" she demanded, noting to herself that the Princess had not thrown a single blow, or made contact with her at all. It was not how she had envisioned this fight going.

"Just letting you get it all out of your system, Shego," she answered. "Besides, I already got my hits in."

Which meant that she was toying with her and letting her tire herself out. Wonderful.

"You know, you mentioned the other night that I'm not in your league," Kim teased. "Wanna reconsider?"

"Okay, that's _it_ , Princess!" Shego snarled, funneling her anger into the glow. "The kid gloves are coming off!"

The corner of her lips tugged upward in a smirk. "Bring it."

Shego brought it, focusing her power into a compact ball before hurling it at the teenager. Kim stood there, not reacting at all to the impending projectile. A moment before it would have hit her, a blue energy shield came up around her, causing it to dissipate harmlessly.

The cheerleader shook her head from side to side, clicking her tongue in disapproval. "Gonna have to do better than that, Shego."

Her only response was an inarticulate howl as she lunged at the redhead, arms raised high above her head. A moment later her fists slammed into the protective barrier, and then her world became pain.

"Augh!" she cried as she was suddenly hurled back, landing hard on the mat. "The hell...?" she muttered.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you?" the former heroine said nonchalantly. "The shield doesn't just absorb energy; it redirects it. Your own power gets turned right back on you."

"Think you're so smart..." Shego grumbled as she picked herself up from the floor. This clearly was not working. While anger had served her well in the past, Kim's remark had pushed her to the point where it had started to control _her_ , rather than the other way around. Worse, it happened less than two minutes into the fight. She usually lasted longer than that before descending into mindless fury. Kim's energy trick had thankfully snapped her out of it, but she was not sure that this was the best strategy anymore.

She needed to start fighting smarter, not harder.

After a few moments of thinking, the answer came to her, and Shego had to hide her smirk. There was time for that once she saw the look on Kimmie's face.

Taking a deep breath, she shaped her hand like a gun and pointed it at the cheerleader, who smirked. Shego concentrated her power on the tip of her index finger, letting it build for several seconds before finally releasing the glow. The energy travelled in a far narrower path than her usual blasts, and when it reached Kim it did not deflect harmlessly off the shield, but passed through it and grazed the other girl's knee.

This took Kim by surprise.

She grimaced and fell to one knee, but to her credit did not cry out in pain. Seizing the opportunity, Shego was upon her at once, swiping at that smug face. Kim retained enough presence of mind to lean back out of the way, then stood to her full height again. Using the rotational energy she'd built up, Shego struck out with a reverse roundhouse, which the girl easily ducked under. The green woman brought her glowing arms down like a hammer, and Kim was forced to raise her arms to block the attack in the first true contact of the fight.

Shego broke off, hurling three plasma bolts as she spun around, forcing Kim back. She charged back toward her in a flash, launching a glowing uppercut at her chin. Kim leaned back to avoid it, which allowed the villainess to step closer, lashing out with another spinning backhand. The cheerleader had to hop back to avoid it, ceding more ground to her. She fired off a flurry of punches, most of which the girl evaded and the rest she blocked. Shego probed her defenses, looking for any weakness, any opening. She found one.

Spinning on her the ball of her left foot, Shego straightened her leg at the end of the rotation and hit Kimmie dead center in the gut, right where she had been kicked the other night. The teenager was launched backward, where she tumbled not-so-gracefully along the mats, coming to a rest some twenty yards away.

"You think that's the first energy shield I've dealt with, Princess?" Shego sneered. "They're always designed the same way: big splashes of energy get absorbed and redirected, but take all that energy and focus it into a narrow beam, and it's like a knife through butter."

She crossed her arms. "I get that you're a lot more powerful in that suit, but that combat high you got earlier doesn't make you God. As far as I'm concerned you're still just a spoiled princess. Come back down to earth, Kimmie."

Kim stood up slowly, and the glare on her face told Shego that she was starting to take this a lot more seriously. "Okay, Shego. If that's how you wanna play it, then the kid gloves are _really_ coming off."

She lit up her hands and grinned like the devil. "Bring it."

The cheerleader was upon her almost before she could react, crossing the distance between them with an impossible leap and angling her foot downwards. Shego sidestepped to avoid her, then ducked as a foot sailed through the air where her head had just been. Kim aimed a straight punch at her, and Shego crossed her arms into an "X" in front of her to block it. The augmented strength that the suit provided caused her to skid back a couple of yards, but she did not fall over.

Kim jumped into the air again, raising her right leg above her head as she spun and bringing it down toward Shego's collarbone. She barely avoided it, and the foot slammed into the mat beside her, denting the floor below. The teenager rose and struck out with a left hook, which Shego batted aside before swiping at her once again. Kim grabbed her forearm to stop her, and the two of them momentarily struggled before the redhead raised her legs and used Shego's chest as a springboard, landing several yards away.

"Aw, did I make Kimmie angry?" Shego teased as they started to circle each other again. "I think I did."

"Careful, Shego," Kim warned. "You remember what happened last time I got angry."

"Lucky shot," she declared. "You won't get another one."

"Don't be so sure about that," the cheerleader rebutted before ducking into a forward roll, pushing off with her hands and launching herself feet-first at the other woman. Shego ducked under the human missile, then spun around to face her.

"You know, I really have to hand it to ya," she began, charging forward and slashing at the teen again. "Even before you sprung me and Drakken, I figured I'd be seeing you on the side of evil the moment you tracked me down after the day had already been saved and tried to kill me. That's not what I'd call heroic."

Kim hopped backward to escape the onslaught, and huffed. "Glad you approve."

"And I really appreciate what you're tryin' to do here, letting me blow off a little steam," she continued, striking out with a powerful high kick, which the redhead easily sidestepped. "But I thought you'd have realized by now..."

With speed that surprised even her, Shego reached out and grabbed the Princess' suit, then hurled her over her head in the direction of the weight machines.

"I HATE YOU TOO!"

Kim smashed through one of the benches, snapping it in half. She groaned and forced herself up, only to find that Shego was already standing before her, hands glowing.

"Everything that happens from this point forward is on your head, Pumpkin," Shego said gravely. "The only reason I haven't killed you yet is because, for whatever reason, I'm still loyal to Drakken. And to be honest, I like seeing you take his orders. But let me make one thing clear."

The glow around her hands grew brighter, and Kim started to show fear for the first time.

"We are not partners. We're not friends. When we fight, it's for real. So if you want to keep playing, be my guest. I know I'll enjoy it."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Because payback's a bitch."

* * *

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Shego," Kim said calmly despite her compromised position.

"Yeah?" the green lady challenged, hands ablaze. "And why's that?"

"Because a friend wouldn't do _this_ to you," she answered, kicking out with surprising speed and sending one half of the broken bench hurtling in her direction.

Shego dipped to the side to avoid it, which was all the opportunity Kim needed to get back on her feet and start lobbing weights at her.

"Whoa!" she shouted as a forty-five pound circular weight hurtled past her head. She ducked under another, then dodged a third with a quick side flip. Kim eventually got impatient and hefted the entire rack over her head, hurling it toward her.

Any notions that she had the upper hand in this fight left Shego's head as five hundred pounds of metal smashed into the ground beside her. The suit pushed Kim's strength up to just a little above her level, but still nowhere near what she'd put up with from Hego. The problem was that Kim was nowhere near as slow as that brute.

On the other hand, now she was out of ammunition.

Shouting her rage, Shego leaped into the air and swiped as she landed, eviscerating a Bowflex. Kim had flipped out of the way at the last second, over to another weight bench. She lifted up a barbell and began to spin it around. Shego spared a glance down at the destroyed bench next to her and hooked her foot under the nearest barbell, kicking it up into her waiting hands. She refocused her glow, channeling it through the metal so that the ends flared green.

Leaping again, she brought the end of the barbell down hard towards Kim, who vaulted out of the way onto the mats, where she would have more room. Shego followed, jumping high in the air while she twirled the barbell from side to side before slamming the end down onto the ground. The result, which she admitted she had not planned, was that some excess energy traveled outward in a shockwave along the floor as soon as the barbell impacted the mat.

Shego was thankful for the limited immunity she had to her own powers, since it not only allowed her to wreath her hands in the glow, but also to keep her footing as the energy spread outward. The same could not be said for Kim, who backpedaled hastily before putting some distance between them with a backflip. She recovered her composure almost immediately.

"Aw, did I make Shego angry?" the cheerleader teased, hurling her own taunt back at her. "I think I did."

Well, she was right at least. "Shut it, Princess!"

"Make me."

Growling, the green woman charged at her rather than risk another flying leap, then swung the end of the barbell at her head. Kim blocked the strike with her own weapon, making sure not to contact the glow, which could cut through it easily. Shego hopped back to avoid a boot aimed at her stomach, then raised the barbell to block an overhead strike from Kim. The redhead quickly broke contact and spun the barbell around with surprising speed while turning around herself, then struck her in the gut with a lightning fast thrust.

"Oof!" Shego huffed as she tried to ignore the pain. Truthfully, she had never trained much in the use of polearm-style weapons, or weapons in general for that matter. Those tended to be a secondary concern when she could shoot cosmic energy out of her fists. Kim seemed to be a natural with everything she touched, and there were several Kung Fu styles that taught staff techniques. She was not going to win this way.

She did not have a choice as Kim took the offensive, using the barbell as a lever to vault over her, sweeping it along the ground as she landed. Shego hopped upward to avoid it, then brought the barbell down in an overhead strike, which Kim blocked by raising her own from her crouched position. The glow made contact, splitting the barbell in two and continuing to the floor below.

Kim retaliated by quickly holding part of the barbell that was not currently engulfed in energy down with her foot and firing an uppercut at Shego's jaw. She jumped back to avoid it, but in doing so sacrificed her grip on the weapon. She flared up her hands again, forcing the cheerleader to be cautious with her next moves.

"You know, Shego, I don't think you really hate me," Kim averred as she dodged a furious swipe.

"And how do you..." Shego slashed at her again, only to hit nothing but air. "How do you figure that, Princess?"

"Remind me what happened the first time we met," the cheerleader replied, ducking under a roundhouse. Shego sent a few more punches her way, none of which connected.

That was not a hard one to remember, Shego admitted as memories of robot ticks and a brawl in Bueno Nacho came rushing back to her. "We fought," she answered.

"Do you remember why?"

"Because Drakken was paying me to, duh." Kim had put on a little more distance now, and Shego fired off a flurry of bolts at her.

"Exactly," the redhead pointed out as she continued to flip out of the way. "Drakken was doing something stupid, I was trying to stop him, and you were protecting him because it was your job. Not really seeing the hate there."

"Actually, we came after you because you still had the robot tick on your nose. Which I tried to scratch off, by the way."

Kim shrugged while avoiding another swipe. "Would you still have gone after me if I hadn't?"

"Not really."

"Then that still proves I'm right."

She had a point. Not that Shego was going to admit it. "Yeah, well we've fought plenty of times since then, and you were annoying every time." She flared up her hands and released a wide-angle blast that Kim had to flip over. "I may not have hated you at first, but it grew pretty fast!" She leaped into the air, angling her fist downward at the suddenly talkative Princess.

"Oh, I know I annoyed you, Shego," Kim replied, hopping out of the way just as an enraged Shego crashed into the mats. She brought up an arm to block the next strike, and kept this up as the green woman continued her onslaught. Blue energy flared up around her hands, protecting her from the glow. "But we still only clashed because you got in the way of me catching Drakken."

She ducked under a particularly furious swipe, then continued. "And we made a pretty good team when we fought Aviarius with your brothers. But do you know what happened the other night that changed things?"

Reaching inside Shego's guard, she batted down her opponent's right arm while simultaneously striking her temple with the back of her arched wrist, followed by a lightning fast palm strike to the solar plexus and a spin kick to the gut. As Shego stumbled back, momentarily dazed, she finished the thought.

"You made it personal."

She rushed forward and struck with a vicious uppercut, and Shego felt pain blossom in her jaw as she was hurled across the room. Time seemed to slow, and it occurred to her in those moments that she had narrowly avoided breaking her jawbone. She landed hard on the mats several yards away.

"We both said and did things we didn't really mean that night, Shego," Kim continued. "But I've let that comment about Erik go. Why can't you?"

Shego wiped some stray flecks of blood from the corner of her mouth as she slowly rose. "Because I haven't found a tower to kick you into yet."

She shrugged, as if she had expected that. "Well, I suppose that's why we're here."

"Then let's get to it, Princess," Shego remarked before charging at her again.

* * *

"You know, you never realize how much you didn't miss taking the bus until you have to go back to it because your scooter's broken," Ron lamented as he and Kim sat in the back seat of a long yellow reminder of life before their parents would let them walk to school.

"Yeah, well, that piece of junk would have taken us even longer than walking, and Felix doesn't live that close to school," Kim pointed out. "Although I definitely didn't miss the freshmen."

They both stared straight ahead at the ruckus that was taking place further up in the bus, which the driver was pointedly ignoring, likely from experience. The paper footballs and spitwads were considered below the radar, and from what Kim remembered the driver would not threaten to pull the bus over unless an actual fistfight broke out.

"I'm just saying, we could've gotten Wade to call us a ride," he suggested.

"Ron, I'm not wasting a favor to get a ride to a friend's house."

"Why not? It's mission-related! Besides, I think Britina still owes us one."

"It was _one_ crazed fan!" Kim rebutted, throwing her arms up for a brief moment before letting them fall again. "I told her not to worry about it."

"Yeah, which is Kim-speak for, 'You totally owe me,'" he asserted. "Also, the guy had a knife and wanted to 'wear her like a coat.' I'm pretty sure she owes you for life."

"You just want another ride in her private jet," she accused, jabbing a finger in his direction.

Ron shook his head. "Nah, I hit my private jet quota on the way back from Japan. Also, we always end up skydiving and I _hate_ freefalling."

"Whatever. It's still just a fifteen minute ride."

"Which would be way more awesome in Britina's stretch limo," he responded, tapping a finger against his temple. "Think about it, Kim."

"I'm trying very hard not to," she answered flatly.

The bus came to a halt a short while later, and they both stayed seated while most of the freshmen in front of them began to swarm the aisle. Once the stampede had cleared, they stood up and exited the bus.

"See?" she said as soon as they stepped onto the sidewalk, gesturing to the house in front of them. "We're already here."

"Yeah, well, we could've been playing Zombie Mayhem twenty minutes ago if we had Wade send us a ride," he insisted.

"Ron, we only left school _fifteen_ minutes ago," she pointed out.

He frowned, then began trudging along the driveway. "Whatever. Time is meaningless where Zombie Mayhem is concerned."

"Is _that_ why I found you in a sugar coma after thirty-two straight hours of button stomping?"

"It's button _mashing_ , Kim, and I don't do that," he corrected, then raised a finger for emphasis. "There is a method to my madness!"

"Please enlighten me, O Great Master," she retorted in perfect deadpan.

"Just let me fire up the console with Felix and you can watch this master at work," he boasted.

"Sorry, no can do," she replied. "Mission-related trip, remember?" She rang the doorbell before he could respond.

"Coming!" Felix's voice called from within. The door opened moments later. "Oh hey, guys. Mom's expecting you, Kim."

"Thanks," she said as they walked inside. Felix turned about in his wheelchair and began leading them into the living room. "So Felix," she began, "I didn't see you at prom. Did you not find anybody to dance with?"

He raised an eyebrow and looked back at her over his shoulder. "Kim. Me? Dance? Don't be ridiculous." By this time they had arrived in the living room and he turned around to face them.

Kim felt heat rush to her face and covered her mouth to avoid making another unfortunate slip. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" She slapped her forehead. "Why does everything I say around you come out insensitive?"

Felix chuckled. "I'm just giving you a hard time, Kim; don't sweat it." She relaxed a little at that, and he continued: "Truth is, I was too broke to rent a Tux. Zita and I had a private party back here."

She blinked. "Wait, Zita? Zita Flores?"

"Oh yeah, we're dating now," he informed her. "Didn't you know?"

"Not really," she answered, glancing at Ron. "And you're okay with this?"

"Are you kiddin' me? The Ron-Man made with the mad hookup!"

"He introduced us at ZombieCon," Felix explained as Kim and Ron took their seats. "We paired up and scored a sick kill streak of five thousand zombies." He grinned. "Best first date ever."

"Better than getting your mind trapped in Everlot," Ron agreed.

"Wait, there's more than one gathering for Zombie Mayhem?" Kim interjected, utterly perplexed.

"Well, ZombieCon is about zombies in general," Felix clarified. "But they hold Zombie Mayhem tournaments every year. Zita and I got a free copy of Zombie Island out of it."

Ron's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. "Dude, do you have it here?"

"What kinda question is that?" Felix replied, producing the game.

"Put it in! Put it in!" he urged, and Felix obliged him, starting up the game console.

"I'll leave you guys to it," said Kim, standing up and heading toward the kitchen. She shook her head. Ron might have been an idiot sometimes, but he was _her_ idiot. And while she definitely didn't see the appeal of sitting on the couch killing imaginary zombies when she could be out there stopping supervillains in real life, she understood that he was passionate about it and tried to be supportive.

"Haha! Die by the blood-soaked blades of my lawnmower, stupid zombies! Die!"

"Dude, quit ripping off Peter Jackson."

"Who?"

On the other hand, maybe she needed to get him away from the console more. They were dating now, after all.

* * *

"What's the matter, Shego?" Kim taunted as she barely missed her next strike, which the green woman dodged more sluggishly than usual. "Tired?"

After a few moments' deliberation, she determined that she was, as Kim suggested, bone tired.

No, not just tired. _Exhausted_. She and Kim had been fighting for what felt like hours, though she knew from experience that time seemed to stretch into infinity during prolonged combat. The constant striking, blocking and dodging had a way of depleting energy faster than almost any other activity, and even someone with her superhuman endurance eventually had to stop and catch her breath.

"Never better," she lied, even though her muscles burned as she swiped at her again, too slowly to have a chance of hitting her.

"You sure? We can pick this up later if you want."

"I said I'm FINE, Princess!" she exclaimed furiously, clawing at her stomach even though she knew she did not have a chance of connecting.

Kim frowned before moving faster than she had any right to after battling for so long, sidestepping the attack and grabbing Shego by the forearm. She wrenched the arm upward and twisted, causing the green woman to flip over and land hard on her back.

Shego sighed in annoyance. The adrenaline flowing through her was the only reason she was still moving, and if she had been a little closer to full strength she might have been able to land on her feet. All she could do now was roll to the side and stand again, panting heavily.

"You sure about that?" the redhead challenged, crossing her arms and looking smug. She did not seem tired at all.

"Okay, so I'm..." She paused, taking several deep breaths. "I'm a little tired. Aren't you?"

"Nah, I've always been naturally energetic," Kim replied. "The suit helps with my endurance level too."

Of course it did. "You know, it... occurs to me that we usually have some sort of... some sort of interruption before we ever get to this point," she admitted, still huffing and puffing. "I think this is the longest we've ever fought."

Kim nodded. "Yeah, two hours seems a lot longer when you're punching and kicking the whole time."

"Only two...? I feel like I've been fighting you for _days_!" Especially now that the adrenaline was flowing out of her and she tasted copper in her mouth. Her lungs burned with every breath, to say nothing of how the rest of her body was on fire. She had bruises and contusions all over, the sweat under her catsuit was suffocating her skin, and she had to take a monster of a piss.

She wanted nothing more than to take a nice, long, warm shower right now. She considered taking Kim up on her offer to pick this up later, but quashed it immediately. She either beat her now, or not at all. And she had never been one to give up easily.

"We're not done yet, Princess. I'm not stopping until I do to you what you did to me."

The cheerleader rolled her eyes. "You'll die of exhaustion before you beat me," she replied, sighing. "If you still wanna come at me that's fine, but I _will_ make you rest before I let you get too hurt."

"I'd love to see you try, Pumpkin," she growled before lighting up her fists and rushing her one more time.

It happened so fast that Shego did not realize what happened until she was lying flat on her back again. Kim had reacted with that same impossible speed, ducking down and rolling the green woman over her shoulders, then lashed out with a kick that landed square in the middle of her back, sending her flying.

"Stay down, Shego," she practically ordered. "Drakken needs us both in top shape for his operation and I don't recall this being a duel to the death."

Shego was beyond listening to her at this point and mindlessly charged at her again. The redhead sighed and grabbed Shego's left arm just as it was preparing to punch her, then spun inside her reach and elbowed her in the gut before flinging the green woman over her head. She tumbled along the mats, landing in a heap several yards away.

Letting out one final battle cry, she used what was left of her power to make yet another mad dash at the teenager, not knowing what she would do when she reached her. Kim frowned and set her brow, then reached out her arm and caught Shego's glowing fist, the suit's energy interceding and protecting her from harm. She twisted her wrist so that her hand was upside down then stepped to the side and allowed the green woman to continue her forward motion, landing a palm strike on her upper back with her left hand before spinning around and kicking her in the back of the knee.

Before Shego could collapse completely, Kim was upon her, hooking her arms beneath her armpits and pressing hard against the back of her head. She felt an enormous pressure on her neck, and groaned in pain.

"Do you know what this hold is called, Shego?" Kim began very sternly. "It's called the Full Nelson. It's banned from professional wrestling because I could _break_ _your_ _neck_ from this position if I wanted to. Now, will you stop fighting when I let you go?"

Shego tried to shake her head, but found that she could barely move her neck with all the pressure Kim was putting on it. "Not... finished. Make you... suffer."

"Not gonna happen, Shego. Drakken told us we need to work out the issues between us so that we can work more effectively as a team. I need you to promise me that you can do that."

"Let me... hurt you... and we'll be fine," she grunted.

"Can't do that. Like I said, if you want to get revenge, you have to earn it yourself. Now promise me."

Part of Shego wanted to submit, but the other part reminded her that if she did that, she would never have the upper hand in this relationship. She could still fight. She could still win.

But not like this.

"Fine, fine I surrender!" she shouted, hating herself for it. "Uncle!"

Kim released her, and she stopped herself from falling with her hands before clenching them into fists. As Kim started to stand, she gathered the last of her strength and made one last attempt to do serious damage to the Princess with a rising uppercut.

The cheerleader leaned back, then grabbed both of her arms before headbutting her. A rising knee slammed into her gut, and Shego doubled over, only to fall to the ground as Kim elbowed her in the back of the neck.

She was spent. She tried to get back up, but a boot came to rest upon her upper back, pinning her down. Black started to close along the edges of her vision, and before she lost consciousness the last thing she heard was Kim clicking her tongue in disapproval.

* * *

"Hey, Dr. Renton," Kim greeted as she entered the kitchen.

Dr. Cindy Renton smiled as she looked over her shoulder from the stew she was preparing. "Oh hi, Kim. Give me just a second here." She handed the wooden spoon she was using off to one of the many robotic appendages that populated the kitchen, then sat down at the table while it continued stirring. "Can I offer you some tea?"

"Sure, thanks." Another of the cyber-robotic arms reached into the cupboard and produced a mug, then poured some hot water from the stove into it and deposited a tea bag before gently placing the steaming beverage directly in front of where Kim took her seat. "Did my Dad let you know why I'm here?"

"He told me you have the security clearance, at least," she replied. "He said you'd explain the situation yourself."

She nodded, then blew over the top of her mug before taking a tentative sip. "I need to know about Project Warwolf."

Dr. Renton quirked an eyebrow, but answered all the same. "Oh, that? It's just a project we've been developing as a possible Rogue Asteroid defense."

"A what?"

She chuckled before taking a sip of her own tea. "I'm sure your father must have told you about those by now. Rogue Asteroids are those giant asteroids you hear about on the news that are on a collision course with Earth. We're actually being bombarded constantly by meteors smaller than your thumb, but thankfully Earth's atmosphere is enough to burn most of them up."

"And you were working on something to deal with the bigger ones," Kim surmised.

She nodded. "Exactly."

"How does it work?"

"Well, we never actually built any prototypes, but the theoretical models we constructed were designed to generate powerful sound waves that would crush any asteroids too large to be burned up naturally into gravel."

She wrinkled her brow. "But I thought sound didn't travel in space."

"It doesn't, which is why it was being developed as a last line of defense in case the lasers and nukes fail and an asteroid actually makes its way into our atmosphere. The device would shatter it into small enough chunks that would then burn up naturally. Of course, we had to be really careful in our calculations or it could end up splitting the asteroid up into slightly larger chunks that would tear into Earth like a shotgun blast from God."

Kim blinked at the unusually vivid simile. "And what would happen if a supervillain got their hands on this technology?"

"Which supervillain?" she asked, suddenly looking a lot more concerned.

"Dr. Drakken," she answered. "Old arch-foe. Helped Motor Ed steal the tech off of Felix's wheelchair a few months ago."

"Which means he already has experience using cyber-robotic technology," Dr. Renton concluded.

"And cybertronic. He got his hands on Dad's Hephaestus project and used it to try and take over the world just last week." She frowned. "These soundwaves... what do they do to humans?"

"Well, they were designed to vibrate at the resonant frequency of iron-rich rock, but it could be tuned to target people as well. It would take a genius, though."

"Much as I hate to admit it, Drakken tends to be pretty good at co-opting the tech he steals," Kim admitted, taking another sip of her tea. "But blowing people up isn't really his style."

"I still wouldn't underestimate him, Kim," she warned. "That technology was designed to work against asteroids capable of causing an Extinction Level Event. It could turn Mount Everest into a pile of dust. Not to mention what it would do to a city."

"Guess we'd better stop him, then," she declared, standing up. "Thanks for the tea, Dr. Renton. And the information."

"Any time, Kim," Dr. Renton replied, rising as well. "Are you going to stay for dinner?"

"Maybe," the teen answered. "It depends on how long Ron wants to stay."

"Oh, he and Felix look pretty engrossed in that game," she observed. "I'll set out two extra bowls tonight, just in case."

"Thanks again, Dr. Renton."

"You're welcome, Kim."

Kim exited the kitchen and went back to the living room, sitting down beside Ron. "Who's winning?"

"Both of us," Ron informed her.

"Yeah, this is co-op, not versus," added Felix. "Right now we're on a quest to get this guy to one of the safe rooms. He's gonna be zombified at this rate, though."

"Sounds fascinating," she replied, trying to sound supportive. "Ron, Dr. Renton invited us to stay for dinner. That cool with you?"

"You know it, KP!" he said enthusiastically. "That stew is calling to me."

"Just leave some for the rest of us, big guy," Felix interjected.

"I can make no promises," he replied. "And neither can Rufus. Right, little buddy?"

"Mmm, stew!" the naked mole rat answered from his perch on Ron's shoulder, rubbing his belly.

"Also, I was thinking about tomorrow," Kim continued. "What do you say we go on a real date for once?"

That got Ron to look away from the game, if only for a moment. "Wait, you're asking _me_ out?"

"Duh, this is the twenty-first century," she retorted. "Is that a 'no'?"

"Uh... no!" he answered hastily. "I mean yes! I mean... which one is the right answer?"

His character's death scream punctuated the momentary silence between them as Kim shook her head in amusement.

"Dude, thanks a lot! I have no revival pills left!"

"Sorry, KP distracted me!"

"My bad," she apologized, holding her hands up in surrender. "But what do you say? Pick you up at seven?"

"She's picking you up, too?" Felix ribbed. "Tsk, tsk, bro."

"Hey, I already had my 'walk down the stairs' moment," Kim rebutted. "It's not all that great in retrospect."

"Uh, that sounds great, KP," Ron answered a little less hurriedly than before. "Looking forward to it."

She smiled. "It's a date, then."

* * *

The first thing Shego became aware of when she awoke was that she reeked worse than a recently irrigated cornfield. Though the sweat had dried, her catsuit was still stuck to her body, and she was about to peel it off when she finally took stock of her surroundings.

"How did I end up back in my bed?" she wondered aloud, though nobody was around to answer her. The circumstances leading up to her blacking out began to come back to her, and she surmised that Kim must have carried her back here.

Embarrassing.

It was not until her bladder started screaming at her that she realized she still needed to pee. She tried to move, but her arm felt like it was filled with rocks and her muscles were locked up tighter than Granny Crocket's secret cookie recipe. She felt more exhausted than she had been in years. But she had learned to deal with fatigue long ago, when she would train for hours on end and wake up feeling like death warmed over. Forcing herself up, she stood and shuffled over to the bathroom, slowly shedding her catsuit along the way. By the time the door hissed open and shut, she was completely bare.

She did her business quickly, straining again when she stood up from the toilet and flushed it before making her way to the shower. She turned on the left nozzle, thankful that she had separate pipes for the shower and the toilet so she did not have to wait for it to finish flushing. She felt her muscles start to loosen as the hot water cascaded over her, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Once she no longer felt completely sore, Shego allowed her mind to focus on what Kim had told her during their battle. That they did not hate each other, and their rivalry had been strictly professional until she made that comment about Erik. Shego knew she was right, and truthfully she had already admitted it to herself when Kim was first brought here. That was not the problem.

The problem, she reflected as she began lathering soap, was that she still had not gotten the opportunity to deliver proper retribution to the cheerleader, and fighting her only brought about more frustration. Whether or not it was personal before, it was now, and she needed to get revenge before she would feel any better.

But was that really the answer? The other thing she had realized a while ago was that Kim being under Drakken's control was already more than enough punishment for her. Or it would be, if Kim actually _acted_ like it was a punishment. Instead, she approached evil with almost the same zeal that she had for heroism, and she did not seem to suffer for it at all. That, more than anything, was what made Shego furious.

She started to rub soap along her skin, massaging her sore muscles at the same time. When that was done, she poured a large amount of shampoo into her hands and began the long process of mixing it in with her hair. She really only needed to concern herself with the first foot or so, since her hair was long enough that sweat did not really seep that far. Still, it took a good ten minutes before she was finished.

Once that was done, she gave herself one more scrub-down before turning off the water and stepping out of the shower. Grabbing a towel, she wiped the steam off the mirror and took stock of her reflection. What she saw made her wince.

Though Kim had not made contact with her much until the end of the fight, the damage she had inflicted included several ugly bruises, thankfully all on places that were normally covered anyway. She pressed a hand to her ribs to make certain none of them were cracked, and the bruise on her stomach from where Kim's knee had struck her did not seem dark enough to indicate internal bleeding. The energy that fueled her powers also allowed her to heal faster than normal, so she should be fine within a day or two. She just needed to avoid getting into any more fights with Kim.

Once the very long process of drying off her hair was complete, she wrapped a towel around her body and stepped out of the bathroom. She began making her way over to the bed, intent on sleeping this off. Before she reached it, however, the door to her chamber hissed open and there was a sudden shriek, though whether it was from her or the intruder she could not tell.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Kim yelled, shielding her eyes and running back out of the room, which was completely at odds with her earlier behavior. Shego snorted and dropped the towel, then reached back inside the bathroom to grab a robe.

"You can come in now, Princess," she called out after she was decent. "Didn't even see me naked," she muttered, shaking her head in amusement.

"Sorry again," the teen said sheepishly as she entered. She looked so innocent and embarrassed that it was hard to imagine she had been beating the crap out of her earlier. "I thought you were still asleep."

"Yeah, well, knock first next time," she replied, slightly annoyed but still trying very hard not to laugh. "Now what can I do for you, Princess?"

Kim seemed confused by her change in demeanor, as if she had expected her to still be trying to take her head off. "You're not still mad about earlier?"

"Look," she sighed, letting her shoulders fall a little bit. "Right now I feel like I got run over by a semi truck and I really want to rest before I go another round with you. Besides, I do _kinda_ feel better after I let all that out on you, so thanks for that."

"You're wel—"

" _But_ ," she interrupted, raising a finger. "I _am_ still mad at you for kicking me into Drakken's signal tower. You had already beaten us and even though I made it personal first, that was still out of line. Also, you haven't given me an opportunity to get you back for that."

"Oh, I _gave_ you the opportunity," Kim remarked, crossing her arms. "I never said I'd make it easy."

"Wouldn't feel as satisfying if you did," she responded, then sighed again. "But I'm willing to put all that aside if you do one thing for me."

"And that is?"

"Apologize."

Kim stared at her blankly for several moments. "Huh?"

"You heard me," she answered, crossing her arms. "Just because I'm evil doesn't mean I can't forgive people. And we've already established that I can't beat you senseless, so this is the only way we can move past this."

She appeared to consider that, framing her chin with her index finger and thumb. "You first."

"Eh?"

"You made the crack about Erik first, you apologize first."

"Fine," she grumbled. "I'm sorry I said I was going to kill you and steal your boyfriend. It was... wrong."

She smiled. "I forgive you, Shego." The smile dropped. "And I'm sorry I kicked you into the tower. And that I said I hated you. There were better ways to let out my anger at you."

"I forgive you, Princess." As soon as she said it, she felt a lot less tired.

"So what do we do now?"

"Well first, I'm going to sleep for a very long time," she answered. "Tomorrow, we're getting out of here and doing something together. Get to know each other better."

"What did you have in mind?" Kim asked.

Honestly, she had no idea. "I'll get back to you on that."

"Okay," the teen replied as she began walking out of the room. "Goodnight, Shego."

"G'night, Princess."

As soon as Kim left, Shego opened the robe and shrugged, letting it hit the floor. "Lock," she commanded the door, and the loud click she heard told her that she was safe from any further intrusions. She climbed under the covers, and reveled in the comfortable fabric. "Off," she told the lights, and then darkness enveloped her.


End file.
